A regular survey of professional economic forecasters conducted by the European Central Bank showed that they expect the euro-zone economy to grow by 1.4 per cent this year, fractionally faster than previously anticipated, the ECB said on Thursday.

In its regular quarterly 'Survey of Professional Forecasters', the ECB said that the respondents 'have revised upwards their expectations for the annual average growth rate of real gross domestic product (GDP) in 2002 to 1.4 per cent, up by 0.1 per centage point compared with the previous survey round.'

Growth would then gather momentum later in the year, accelerating to an annual rate of 2.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2002, the ECB wrote in its May monthly bulletin published on Thursday.

Growth would then average 2.6 per cent for the whole next year, slightly faster than the forecast of 2.5 per cent published in the previous survey, the bank continued.

However, it cautioned that the professional forecasters saw uncertainty both about oil prices and the strength of the recovery in the United States as the main risks to their latest growth forecasts.