The European Central Bank has given its strongest signal yet that it is prepared to embrace quantitative easing to prevent the eurozone from sliding into deflation or even a prolonged period of low inflation.
The ECB ignored calls from Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, to deploy immediately exceptional monetary policy measures, such as bond buying, and kept interest rates at 0.25 per cent for the fifth month in a row.
But Mario Draghi, ECB president, sought to address concerns the central bank is complacent about ultra-low inflation by saying the governing council was united in its support for more radical action should the outlook disappoint.