Goldman slashes euro forecasts, sees US$0.80 by end-2017

[LONDON] US investment bank Goldman Sachs slashed its forecasts for the euro on Friday, predicting that it will plunge through parity with the dollar within a year and hit a new record low by the end of 2017.

Goldman's outlook for the euro is now the gloomiest of all major financial institutions, and comes at the end of a week that saw the European Central Bank launch its bond-buying "quantitative easing" stimulus programme and several banks slash their single currency forecasts.

Goldman sees the euro at US$0.95 within 12 months, compared with US$1.08 when it issued its last forecasts in late January, US$0.85 by the end of next year, compared with US$1.00, and US$0.80 by the end of 2017 compared with US$0.90.

The euro fell to a 12-year low this week of US$1.0494. Its current all-time low is US$0.8225, hit in October 2000.

REUTERS