European recession 'will worsen'
The worst of the recession is yet to come, European finance chiefs have warned.
And there is still "something rotten" in the banking system in Europe, despite the spate of recent state bailouts.
Erik Berglof, chief economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes were speaking at the Forbes CEO Forum in Gleneagles.
"I don't think the worst is behind us," Mr Berglof said. "We've not seen everything yet."
There may be a bit of upturn in the economy before a slow recovery sets in, he added.
Ms Kroes said: "There's still not the trust in the banking world. It's a major thing that banks are lending, otherwise the economy will not function.
"There's still enough bankers who are doing this because they realise there is still something rotten in the closet."
Mr Berglof called for a US-style approach to publicise the bad debts in the system, during a question and answer session with Steve Forbes, chairman and editor of Forbes magazine.
"There's a sense that we don't know yet what's in our banking system," Mr Berglof said. "There's a need not only to find out but also to make public like you did in the United States.
"That was a model for how to do it and it certainly helped to stabilise the system. We need the same thing in Europe now and we need to make it public."
