Eurozone inflation remained subdued in August, figures released on Wednesday by the European Union’s statistics office showed.

Greek banks have relied on the emergency liquidity assistance (ELA), which they receive from the Greek central bank, since February after being cut off from the ECB’s funding window due to stalled bailout talks between the Greek government and its lenders.

ECB President Mario Draghi hinted this month that the bank is ready to give the eurozone a bigger dose of stimulus, which could involve buying more bonds or extending the length of the program.

The central bank cut its inflation forecasts at its latest meeting earlier this month, citing the impact of the stronger euro and weak oil prices. The lowest inflation rates were observed in Cyprus (-1.9%), Romania (-1.7%) and Lithuania (-1.0%), while the highest were observed in Malta (1.4%), Austria (0.9%) and Belgium (0.8%). But when consumer prices weaken too much, or fall outright, consumers may delay purchases and companies may be less inclined to invest because of uncertainty over their future revenues. For these reasons, major central banks consider 2% inflation as optimal to provide a cushion against deflation.

In a separate report Wednesday, Eurostat said growth in both labor costs and wages slowed in the second quarter. Inflation rose to 0.3 per cent in May before slowing to 0.2 per cent in the following months. Credit growth is subdued and countries have implemented brakes on “potential house price and credit exuberance”.