The eurozone recovery could be faltering already, with downside risks arising from the latest geopolitical developments, European Central Bank president Mario Draghi says.
"A sign in the data that has shown up in the last two or three months ... (is) that there has a been a slowing down in the growth momentum," Draghi told a news conference on Thursday, adding that the recovery "remains weak, fragile and uneven."
In particular, geopolitical risks - from the Russia-Ukraine crisis and the different trouble spots in the Middle East - "have increased and a higher than they were a few months ago", the ECB chief said.
The fallout from the situation in Russia and Ukraine, with the possibility of sanctions and counter-sanctions, was "very hard to assess", Draghi said.
In the first quarter of 2014, euro area gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 0.2 per cent.
And the monthly indicators so far for the second quarter, "have been somewhat volatile," Draghi said.
However, "overall, recent information, including survey data available for July, remains consistent with our expectation of a continued moderate and uneven recovery of the euro area economy", he said.
Draghi said the ECB would "closely monitor the possible repercussions of heightened geopolitical risks and exchange rate developments".
There has been ongoing concern among politicians and businesses that the euro's strength is harming eurozone exporters.
But Draghi said the economic fundamentals for a softer euro have improved recently.
"The fundamentals for a weaker exchange rate are better than they were two or three months ago," Draghi said.
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