The 17-member governing council of the European Central Bank this week reaffirmed its commitment to begin monetary union in January…

Date: 05/11/1998

...with interest rates close to the 3.3&percent; level operating in Germany and France. ECB president Wim Duisenberg said his colleagues had agreed on “interest rate convergence towards the lower end of the current range in the euro-area”. He admitted that euro-zone growth would be hit by the slow-down in the world economy, but noted that “the spiral of bad news has not continued in recent weeks”. Duisenberg said the council was “somewhat concerned” that euro-zone governments were not narrowing their budget deficits sufficiently quickly, and stressed the ECB would not listen to politicians' calls for interest rate cuts.