Comments by outgoing ECB member Jozef Makuch
I don't believe we've actually heard such exact words from any ECB speakers on the matter but this basically confirms that they may be looking into that next year if the economy continues to stay sluggish. Of course, Makuch may also not be on the governing council for such a decision as he will be departing his post as Slovak central bank governor at the start of March.
Looking at the Citi economic surprise index for the Eurozone, it is slumping again recently as economic data releases continue to disappoint relative to market expectations (which aren't exactly high to begin with for the Eurozone). It's not always an accurate indicator but it's always good to take note of in any case.
What it basically says is that Eurozone data disappointed heavily in Q1 to Q2 but held up in Q3 before disappointing expectations again in Q4:
