The bank forecasted a decline in inflation over the next two and a half years and expected a tepid return to growth for the 17 member states of the monetary union in 2013. The bank's measure of inflation, the HICP, was expected Thursday to rise 2.3 percent in 2012, the same as forecast in last month's bulletin. The significant reduction in 2013 estimates is due to "tensions in some euro area sovereign debt markets and their impact on financing conditions, the process of balance sheet adjustment in the financial and non-financial sectors and high unemployment," according to the ECB.