WASHINGTON, April 22 (Reuters) - Economic recovery in the euro area is expected to lag the United States, mainly because monetary and fiscal stimulus kicked in later, a senior IMF official said on Wednesday.
"If you look at quarterly numbers, you see growth turn positive in the second quarter of 2010 for most of the euro-area countries," Jorg Decressin, division chief for the IMF research department told a news conference.
"The potential growth rate for the euro area is not as big as the U.S. has and that is because population growth in the euro area is less high than in the U.S., so numbers automatically look lower," he added. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by James Dalgleish)