Eurozone finance ministers downplay inflation risk
BRUSSELS, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Finance ministers of eurozone countries downplayed(不予重视) inflation risk in the European single currency club on Monday, despite the recent rises due to higher oil prices.
"Inflation（通货膨胀） in the euro area has been gradually moving up in the last few months, in particular because of the rise of the prices of oil, but underlining inflation pressures in the euro area have remained weak," Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean Claude Juncker told reporters after chairing a monthly meeting of eurozone finance ministers.
Official figures showed annual inflation in the 17-nation euro zone increased to 2.4 percent in January, up from 2.2 percent in December, prompting speculation 1 that the European Central Bank ( ECB) may raise its benchmark interest rate earlier than previously 2 anticipated（预期的,期望的）.
The Frankfurt-based ECB prefers to keep the eurozone inflation close but below 2 percent to maintain price stability.
The recent rises of inflation pressure in the 17-nation euro zone were mainly due to higher oil prices on the world markets. Although inflation in the euro zone was expected to remain high in the next months, it was unlikely that the ECB would raise its rate soon.
Analysts 3 warned rising inflation would pose a policy dilemma 4 for the ECB since any decision to raise interest rate to contain inflation would put economic recovery at risk when the euro zone is still struggling with the sovereign debt crisis.
But eurozone finance ministers sounded optimistic about the economic situation in the euro zone.
"We considered that economic recovery is becoming more and more vigorous, and more and more self-reliant," Juncker said, adding the outlook remained encouraging.
Meanwhile, he warned that sovereign debt market was still disturbing, saying the eurozone countries were working on a comprehensive package to prevent the debt crisis from spreading further to Portugal and Spain.（本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑）
- Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
- There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。
- The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
- Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。
- City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
- I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。