Slovenian Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk expressed here on Monday his and his euro-zone colleagues' concern over the prospect of the U.S. economy.
"We are all concerned. We are following events on a daily basis," Bajuk told reporters before a meeting of euro-zone finance ministers.
"We hope it won't be as bad as commentators say," said the minister, whose country is currently holding the European Union rotating presidency.
EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Joaquin Almunia told reporters on the same day before the meeting that the euro-zone economy would not be directly affected by a slowdown in the United States.
"Our economies in the past were more dependent on the U.S.," he said.
"I hope that the measures that the U.S. administration and the Federal Reserve can adopt in the coming days can counter this risk of recession," he added, referring to U.S. President George Bush's plans for a 150 billion-dollar package of measures to activate the economy and Federal Reserve's expected cut of key interest rate in the months to come.
Finance ministers from the 15 countries sharing the euro gathered in Brussels to review regional and global economic developments.
Their counterparts from other EU member states will join them on Tuesday.
Source: Xinhua
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