The European Central Bank is studying the American and British experiences with quantitative easing to decide what volume of bonds it may buy as part of its own programme, an executive board member said.
"We will take into account the American and British experiences to determine the amount of bonds to buy," Benoit Coeure told the Liberation newspaper.
With inflation in the euro area holding at less than half the ECB's target of just below 2 per cent for the past year and its benchmark lending rate barely above zero, the central bank is considering massive government bond purchases for the first time.
The United States Federal Reserve and the Bank of England swelled their balance sheets with such programmes in the wake of the financial crisis.
The inflation rate in the euro area fell below zero for the first time in more than five years last month, dropping 0.2 per cent in the month.
ECB staff presented policymakers with models for buying as much as €500 billion (HK$4.5 trillion) of investment-grade assets, according to a person who attended a January 7 meeting of its governing council.