Japanese electronics maker Sony said on Tuesday its loss-making mobile phone joint venture with Sweden's Ericsson will likely seek at least 100 million euros ($135.5 million) in funds by March.

The European Commission has forecast - more than twice what it predicted at the start of the year.

The worsening of the global financial crisis, dropping levels of world trade and continuing house value falls had prompted the huge downgrade, it said. Europe's economy would not start recovering until the second half of next year, the commission added. It also predicted unemployment in the 27-nation EU would reach 10.9% in 2010. The jobless figure would be 11.5% across the 16 countries using the euro, known as the eurozone, it added.