MILAN, Oct 9, 2008 (AFP) - The European Central Bank is to lower its 2009 eurozone economic growth forecast from the current estimate of 1.2 percent, ECB board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi said in comments published Thursday.

'Our forecast of 1.2 percent growth in 2009 will be revised down,' he was quoted as saying by the Italian economic daily Il Sole 24 Ore. It did not cite a revised forecast figure.

The central bank had already revised down a previous forecast of 1.5 percent.