ECB officials warn U.S. likely already in recession

By Dave Graham

BRDO, Slovenia (Reuters) - The United States is likely to already be in a recession, European Central Bank Governing Council member Vitor Constancio said on Friday, echoing concerns from his Dutch counterpart and the Irish central bank.

Nout Wellink, who heads the Dutch central bank, was the first ECB official to say that the United States had entered recession in a newspaper interview published late on Monday.

Asked about this, Constancio agreed this could well be true.

"It looks likely. But we will have to wait for the hard data ... to prove it," the Portuguese central bank governor told reporters at a meeting of European Union central bankers and ministers in Brdo, Slovenia.

The Irish central bank also said on Friday it was worried that the U.S. economy was on the verge of shrinking.

"Recent data suggest that the U.S. economy has weakened significantly since late last year, with concerns heightening about the possibility of a recession," the Irish central bank said in its quarterly bulletin.

Wellink had been the most direct in his comments published by Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad on Thursday.

"America is in a recession, that is where the story begins," Wellink was quoted as saying in an interview with NRC Handelsblad on Thursday.