ECB ready to extend QE if needed - Liikanen

HELSINKI (Reuters) - The European Central Bank is ready to extend its asset buying programme if required to reach its inflation objective, Governing Council member Erkki Liikanen said on Thursday. "We will carry on the programme until the end of March, but we will go beyond that if required to reach our price stability target," Liikanen, the Finnish central bank governor, told a news conference. The ECB is currently looking at a range of options to keep its asset buys running smoothly and markets expect a 6 month extension of the 80 billion euro per month scheme as inflation forecasts put price growth below the bank's 2 percent target even in 2018. (Reporting by Jussi Rosendahl; Writing by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Toby Chopra)