European Central Bank policymakers acknowledged that the uncertainty surrounding the euro area growth and inflation outlook has risen recently, thus raising the need for significant stimulus, possibly in the form of a new batch of longer term loans for banks to boost lending to the real economy, minutes of the January 23-24 policy session showed on Thursday.
"There was wide agreement that the continued convergence of inflation to the Governing Council's aim in the period ahead still required an ample degree of monetary accommodation," the ECB said in the minutes, which it calls "account of the monetary policy meeting".
In January, the bank left its key interest rates and forward guidance unchanged. In December, the bank ended its four-year long massive asset purchase scheme of EUR 2.6 trillion.
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