The European Central Bank has got tools to use if the euro area economy were to fall into a new recession, ECB's Governing Council member Ignazio Visco said.

As the economic prospects for the region are currently dominated by uncertainty, Bank of Italy's governor said it was a mistake to fear that monetary policy would be "disarmed" should the situation degenerate into a full-blown recession or lead to deflation.

"Central banks can rely on a wide range of instruments to support economic activity and, if necessary, the Eurosystem is ready to use them all in order to fulfil its mandate," Visco said.