The global financial turmoil could last longer and have a broader impact on the eurozone economy than previously expected, the European Central Bank warned onThursday, even as it underlined its hard-line stance on inflation by leaving interest rates unchanged.

Comments by Jean-Claude Trichet, ECB president, highlighted the risks and uncertainty the Frankfurt-based institution sees surrounding the eurozone economic outlook. But with inflation at 3.5 per cent, the highest for almost 16 years, his tone after the ECB’s latest interest rate meeting suggested little chance of an early cut in borrowing costs, analysts said.