Forex

PARIS (Thomson Financial) - French finance minister Christine Lagarde believes she has detected a slight change in the positioning and language of the the European Central Bank, which holds its monthly interest-rate meeting later today.

'The ECB has slightly modified its position, and changed its vocabulary,' Lagarde said in an interview published last night by French financial weekly Valeurs actuelles.

'I note that the president of the ECB, Jean-Claude Trichet, has just forcefully called into question the overvaluation of the euro against the Chinese currency,' she said, adding that 'the Germans are also starting to be affected by this overvaluation'.

'I hope (the ECB) will be sensitive to the situation of our businesses,' she said.

Lagarde said it will be 'very difficult for our export companies' to cope for very long with an exchange rate of 1.50 eur against the dollar, warning that this could lead to offshoring.