ECB will be as innovative as needed with policy tools, Villeroy says

FILE PHOTO: ECB policymaker Villeroy de Galhau, who is also governor of the French central bank, attends the Paris Europlace International Financial Forum in Tokyo

PARIS (Reuters) - The European Central Bank is prepared to get more innovative with its monetary tools if necessary, ECB Governing Council member Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Thursday.

"To fulfil its price stability mandate over time, the Eurosystem will keep as long as necessary interest rates very favourable and liquidity very abundant," Villeroy, who is also head of the French central bank, said.

"And it will remain ready to be as innovative as necessary about its instruments," he added, writing in an annual letter to the French president.

(Reporting by Leigh Thomas, editing by Larry King)