Central bankers from the Group of 10 leading economies yesterday delivered a strong message of support for the beleaguered euro.

Mr Eddie George, governor of the Bank of England, who is the current chairman of the G10 central bankers' committee, said the euro had "room to appreciate".

Speaking in Basle, Switzerland, he said the bankers had agreed "the extremely favourable economic situation in the United States is something that cannot go on forever".

The prospects of a gentle slowdown in the US, combined with a continued pick-up in the economies of the euro-zone, gave them "reasonable confidence" that the euro would rise. Mr George added that, although there were some inflationary risks in the euro-zone, caused by oil prices and the labour market, they were "not huge".

The euro's slide, which has sent it crashing below parity with the dollar, is causing mounting concern. At last month's G7 meeting in Tokyo, Mr Larry Summers, the US Treasury Secretary, pushed for a statement on the fall, which has exacerbated the ballooning US current account deficit.

The UK has also suffered from the weakness of the euro, which has pushed sterling to its highest levels since 1986.

In the last few days leading European central bank chiefs have moved away from the benign neglect of the exchange rate that characterised statements on the euro last year.

Mr Jean-Claude Trichet, governor of the French central bank, warned at the weekend that the currency's fall was importing inflation to the euro-zone, and said: "We are not satisfied with the current level of the euro."

Mr David Bloom, economist at HSBC, said: "This marks a seachange in rhetoric on the euro. Previously, European officials had indicated they would be concerned only by a rapid decline or by signs that markets were becoming disorderly. Now it is clear that they think the move has gone far enough."

In a break with tradition, the effort to talk up the euro is being led by France rather than Germany. The German finance ministry has quietly welcomed the euro's weakness. Germany, struggling with sluggish growth and high unemployment, needs a weak currency to boost exports.

Despite the latest attempts to support it, however, the euro yesterday remained stuck near its low at around $0.975 against the dollar.