PARIS (AFX) - Finance Minister Francis Mer said the government's 2.5 pct GDP growth estimate for 2003 "remains plausible" provided an arrangement can be agreed with Iraq "under conditions that will not shake up the world economy".
Mer said in an interview in Le Monde daily that following the ECB's decision to leave euro-zone interest rates unchanged yesterday: "(I) do not doubt (the ECB) will continue to act in a pragmatic and reactive fashion in order to give support to the realization of the general objectives of the European Union." ///www.afxpress.com