European Union (EU) member states have not pledged enough on their national fiscal stimulus plans so far, the EU's top economy official said on Monday.
"According to our estimates, we have an impact (from fiscal stimulus) in 2009 ... of 0.8, 0.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the euro zone and member states of the EU," EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told a committee of the European Parliament in Brussels.
The European Commission proposed in November for a significant economic stimulus package worth 200 billion euros (about 259 billion U.S. dollars) in a bid to steer the European economy from a deep recession.
The sum amounts to 1.5 percent of the EU's GDP, with 1.2 percent coming from EU governments and the rest from EU funding.
"It does make some progress but we do not reach the progress we hoped for," he said, adding 18 of the EU's 27 member states had adopted their national fiscal plans more or less in line with the commission's proposal.
The overall spending targets have won backing from EU finance ministers earlier this month, and EU leaders are due to meet on Thursday to have a final say on a coordinated EU response to the recession.
Source:Xinhua
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