BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Central Bank stood ready to deploy additional measures against a possible risk of deflation, but it needs to wait until year-end to see whether adopted policy actions were successful, an ECB Governing Council member said on Friday.
"It's clear that if the situation does not improve the central bank will decide to take supplementary measures," Luc Coene, who is also Belgian central bank governor, told a news conference in Brussels.
"But we must leave time to see if the measures we have taken will have an effect. I think that means we must wait until the end of the year to see how the economy reacts," he added.
The European Central Bank cut interest rates to record lows on Thursday, launched a series of measures to pump money into the sluggish euro zone economy, and pledged to do more if needed to fight off the risk of Japan-like deflation.
(Reporting By Philip Blenkinsop; editing by Martin Santa)