FRANKFURT (AFX) - The president of Germany's Ifo research institute, Hans Werner Sinn, said the European Central Bank should follow up its recent 0.25 pct reduction in interest rates with another cut of the same size.
Speaking in an interview with the ZDF television station, Sinn said it is the task of the ECB to help along economies in the euro zone with its monetary policies.
"The ECB has already cut rates by 0.25 pct. They could now think about a second step so it makes a total of a half a percent in all", he said.
Sinn added the state of the German labour market means it is unlikely the government will be able to reach its target of reducing the number of jobless to 3.5 mln by the end of next year.
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has made it his political mission to cut the number of unemployed to under 3.5 mln eur.
"The positive impulses on the labour market have lessened severely", Sinn said.
"We must have 400,000 less unemployed by the end of the year. But this is not likely to happen", he added.
The total German jobless amounted to 3.867 mln people in April.