Joerg Asmussen, a member of the ECB's Executive Board, said last week he would be "very reluctant" about the ECB cutting its deposit rate - now at zero - any further, adding that "our (monetary) policy is very accommodative".

Another board member, Yves Mersch, said he did not see the logic of a debate about the ECB cutting its main rate from a record low of 0.75 percent. A third board member, Peter Praet, said earlier this month there is little room to cut.

The ECB kept rates on hold this month despite new forecasts suggesting the euro area economy will contract next year as it has this.

On Thursday, three-month Euribor rates, traditionally the main gauge of unsecured bank-to-bank lending, ticked down to 0.185 percent from 0.186 percent.

The six-month rate was unchanged at 0.319 percent while the one-week rate eased to 0.089 percent from 0.090 percent.

Dollar-priced bank-to-bank Euribor lending rates were mixed, with three-month rates falling to 0.57462 percent from 0.57667 percent and one-week rates rising to 0.63692 percent from 0.58167 percent.

($1 = 0.7867 euros)

(Reporting by Frankfurt newsroom; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)

• A Permanent Economic Emergency