FRANKFURT, April 2, 2008 (AFP) - European Central Bank governor Axel Weber warned on Wednesday that further financial turbulence is likely, in remarks to a newspaper after banking stocks jumped on hopes the sector could be turning the corner.

'The crisis of confidence is not over yet. As long as the price decline in the US property market continues, further turbulences have to be expected,' Wever said in an interview with the German newspaper Bild.

He reiterated a call for more transparency in the banking sector, saying that banks which had taken great risks 'have to disclose their losses'.

On Tuesday, Swiss bank UBS and Deutsche Bank, the biggest German bank, announced additional writedowns of 19 billion dollars (12.2 billion euros) and 2.5 billion euros respectively, boosting both stocks on hopes that the worst of the subprime crisis might soon be over.

But European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joachin Almunia told the Frankfurter Rundshau newspaper: 'We do not yet have an overview of the level of losses, banks do not yet inspire trust.'

He added however that 'European economies are better prepared than others against the crisis.'

Lending on international credit markets dried up after the US market for high-risk, or subprime, mortgages collapsed last year, because banks could not determine their own exposure to potential losses and became wary of lending to one another.

International financial officials have repeatedly urged banks and other financial institutions to come clean on their situations to restore confidence that has seriously undermined markets since August.

Weber, who is also the president of the Bundesbank or German central bank, remained confident regarding the German economy.

'The upswing is continuing. Above all, that refers to the 'up', just the 'swing' dwindles away a bit,' he told Bild

For 2008, the Bundesbank forecasts that the German economy, Europe's biggest, will grow by a little more than 1.5 percent.

Weber also underscored the ECB's stance on inflation, saying that in the long-term, rates of more than two percent are not acceptable.

Eurozone inflation accelerated to a provisional 3.5 percent year-on-year in March from 3.3 percent in February, the highest level since the single currency was launched in 1999.

'It is important for the further upswing that the purchasing power of the people is preserved,' Weber said.

ECB officials say that reluctance by eurozone consumers, and those in Germany in particular, to spend is the result of high inflation, bolstering their case to maintain the zone's main interest rate at 4.0 percent.

Pressure has grown on the bank to lower borrowing costs in the 15-nation eurozone in the wake of sharp cuts by the US Federal Reserve.