ECB's Coeure sees euro zone growth in third, fourth quarter

RIGA (Reuters) - The euro zone economy is still on a recovery path and the European Central Bank expects it to grow in the third and fourth quarters, ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure said on Friday.

Speaking to reporters at a conference hosted by the Bank of Latvia in Riga, Coeure repeated the ECB's line that its Governing Council is "ready to take additional non-conventional measures, if needed."

"The euro zone is still on a recovery path. We expect growth to be positive in the third quarter and the fourth quarter in the euro zone," he added.

Turning to the ECB's latest plans to buy private sector assets, he added: "We will start within the next days to purchase the assets that are foreseen under our new purchase programmes, with the objective to steer the balance sheet of the ECB to a higher level."

(Reporting by Aija Krutaine, Eva Taylor and Paul Carrel)