By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Olli Rehn said on Thursday that European economic growth had been “sluggish”, while the “good news” was that inflation and inflation expectations were close to the 2% target.

In a speech at the Finnish Financial Services Association's Finance Evening, Rehn, who heads the Bank of Finland, said that the European economy had “weathered the turmoil of recent years well, but growth has been sluggish,” adding that “[t]he good news is that euro area inflation and longer-term inflation expectations remain close to the ECB's symmetric 2% target.”

He said that despite showing resilience, the European economy was “not very dynamic” when looking at GDP data, and that it needed more investment for it.

As for the Finnish economy, Rehn said it was “slowly recovering,” pointing to a pickup in exports, progress in green investments and a slight recovery in the housing market.

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