(Adds quotes, details, byline)
By Sakari Suoninen
OSNABRUECK, Germany, Feb 12 (Reuters) - It is reasonable to expect a euro zone economic recovery in 2010 and authorities should think about how to exit from rescue packages, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Thursday.
Trichet said that, while there was still a huge amount of uncertainty over the economy and the current weakness was expected to continue in the coming quarters, there was some reason for optimism.
"It seems to be a reasonable working hypothesis that after an exceptionally difficult 2009, we will see an economic recovery in 2010," he said in a speech.
It was delivered in the home town of the president of the European parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering, and was Trichet's first in German.
"The economic prospects are still marked by an exceptionally high degree of uncertainty," he said. "On the basis of our current analysis, we see persistent weakness in economic activity in the euro area over the coming quarters."
He did not say anything about interest rates.
The outlook for the recession-hit euro zone remains bleak. Professional forecasters surveyed by the ECB slashed their forecasts for both growth and inflation on Thursday.
They predicted inflation of just 0.9 percent this year and economic contraction of 1.7 percent despite four ECB rate cuts since last October and billions of euros of extra government spending. For more see [ID:nFAE002842].
Trichet encouraged authorities to think about ways to reverse from rescue packages and stimulus plans, saying if they didn't, they risked souring public confidence.
"Public confidence in the soundness of state finances must not be undermined as this would also impair the effectiveness of the economic policy measures. Therefore, 'exit strategies' from the current fiscal stimuli should be already thought of," he said. (Writing by Marc Jones; Editing by James Dalgleish)