Bloomberg reports that Governing Council member Madis Muller said that the European Central Bank will discuss boosting its regular asset purchases once the pandemic-era emergency stimulus comes to an end, but any such increase is uncertain.

While the euro area’s recovery should allow the ECB to end its 1.85 trillion-euro pandemic bond-buying program in March, officials will discuss how to avoid derailing the rebound when support is pulled back. One option would be to expand the pre-crisis plan above the current 20 billion euros per month, Muller said.

“I realize that it would be a problem if there is a very sharp cliff effect at the end of the pandemic emergency purchase program,” the Estonian central bank chief said. 

A potential increase in the older quantitative easing program is “part of the discussion we will have on how to phase out PEPP and what it would mean for asset purchases going forward,” he said. “And of course the decision will depend on market conditions next spring and the economic outlook at that point.”