Fed-style asset buys not warranted for ECB, says Coeure

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank does not need to make large-scale asset purchases like the U.S. Federal Reserve given the euro zone's inflation outlook, ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure said in a newspaper interview. "Outright asset purchases is one of the tools that the ECB can use to implement its monetary policy, so it is in principle possible," Coeure told Japanese business newspaper Nikkei when asked about his views on so-called quantitative easing (QE). "But if the question is, should the ECB resort to large-scale asset purchases the way the Fed or Bank of Japan have done it, then I don't think this is warranted given the current prospects for inflation," he added. Coeure said euro zone inflation is "low but clearly positive, and we don't see deflation threats at the moment." (Writing by Paul Carrel; editing by Patrick Graham)