The European Central Bank needs to keep calm and show it is in control of inflation but governments may have to loosen fiscal policies to boost growth, ECB policymaker Ewald Nowotny said in separate interviews published today.

The ECB's Governing Council meets in Malta on Thursday and markets expect a dovish message, highlighting a willingness to act to boost inflation, but few if any concrete adjustments to its 60 billion euros a month asset-purchase programme.

“I think that so far it’s too early to determine long-term trends and one needs to be aware that such low inflation is caused by low oil and commodity prices," Nowotny told Polish daily Puls Biznesu.

"In my view, we should keep calm and show that we’re in control of the situation."

Inflation turned negative in the euro zone in September and the ECB expects price growth to miss its target of just under 2 percent for years to come.

But many policymakers argue that low oil prices, caused by an abundance of crude, are the primary cause of the miss although they provide a potential boost for growth as low energy costs increase purchasing power. Many also hope a fading of the base effect from 2014's plunge in energy prices will help push the headline rate higher by year-end.

"In my view it’s too early to talk about (adjusting the asset purchases), because we still have almost a year of the programme ahead of us, until Sept. 2016,” he added.

To secure growth, additional measures are needed, including structural reforms and fiscal policy changes, Nowotny told another Polish paper, Rzeczpospolita.

"For a considerable time (fiscal policy) was restrictive. Now it could be described as neutral, but there may be a need for it to become expansive."