ECB's Coeure says will do more if planned bond buying not enough

[BUDAPEST] The European Central Bank will reassess its bond-buying programme as it progresses towards its stated end in 2016 and is ready to do more if needed to lift inflation toward the bank's target, ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure said on Monday.

"We intend to buy bonds until September 2016, which is 19 months, which is in total 1,140 billion euros, that is the intention," Coeure told reporters on the sidelines of a central banking conference in Budapest.

"We have also said this will be done until we see a sustained convergence towards our definition of price stability. Yes, it is an open-ended programme, it will be reassessed when we come closer to September 2016, and if this aim of achieving sustained convergence towards 2 percent (inflation) in the medium term is not reached, we will do more."

He declined to comment on Greece in detail, saying political dialogue was under way between the new government and its European partners.

REUTERS