newest eu members underpin growth the european union s newest members will bolster europe s economic growth in 2005  according to a new report.  the eight central european states which joined the eu last year will see 4.6% growth  the united nations economic commission for europe (unece) said. in contrast  the 12 euro zone countries will put in a  lacklustre  performance  generating growth of only 1.8%. the global economy will slow in 2005  the unece forecasts  due to widespread weakness in consumer demand.  it warned that growth could also be threatened by attempts to reduce the united states  huge current account deficit which  in turn  might lead to significant volatility in exchange rates.  unece is forecasting average economic growth of 2.2% across the european union in 2005. however  total output across the euro zone is forecast to fall in 2004 from 1.9% to 1.8%. this is due largely to the faltering german economy  which shrank 0.2% in the last quarter of 2004. on monday  germany s bdb private banks association said the german economy would struggle to meet its 1.4% growth target in 2005.  separately  the bundesbank warned that germany s efforts to reduce its budget deficit below 3% of gdp presented  huge risks  given that headline economic growth was set to fall below 1% this year. publishing its 2005 economic survey  the unece said central european countries such as the czech republic and slovenia would provide the backbone of the continent s growth. smaller nations such as cyprus  ireland and malta would also be among the continent s best performing economies this year  it said. the uk economy  on the other hand  is expected to slow in 2005  with growth falling from 3.2% last year to 2.5%.  consumer demand will remain fragile in many of europe s largest countries and economies will be mostly driven by growth in exports.  in view of the fragility of factors of domestic growth and the dampening effects of the stronger euro on domestic economic activity and inflation  monetary policy in the euro area is likely to continue to  wait and see   the organisation said in its report. global economic growth is expected to fall from 5% in 2004 to 4.25% despite the continued strength of the chinese and us economies. the unece warned that attempts to bring about a controlled reduction in the us current account deficit could cause difficulties.  the orderly reversal of the deficit is a major challenge for policy makers in both the united states and other economies   it noted.