By Brian Blackstone 

FRANKFURT--European Central Bank officials determined that downside risks to inflation intensified over the summer, though they need more time to gauge the impact of financial-market volatility and slower growth in China, according to the minutes of the bank's Sept. 3 policy meeting released on Thursday.

Officials agreed to emphasize the ECB's willingness to increase its stimulus programs to address the risks of too-low inflation.

"There was broad agreement that the overall economic situation in the euro area had become more challenging since before the summer," the ECB said in the meeting accounts.

Officials broadly concurred that, while volatility in financial markets reflected heightened risk over the economic outlook, "it was too early to form a sound judgment" on whether it would have a long-lasting impact on growth and inflation, according to the minutes.

At its Sept. 3 meeting, ECB officials raised the possibility that they would beef up their EUR60 billion ($68 billion) a month bond-buying program, which was launched in March and is intended to run through September 2016.

Asset purchases "are intended to run until the end of September 2016, or beyond, if necessary," ECB President Mario Draghi said in his introductory statement to a news conference after the meeting.

Economists interpreted the insertion of the phrase "or beyond," which wasn't in previous introductory statements, as a sign that the bank could extend its more than EUR1 trillion ($1.1 trillion) bond-purchase program, known as quantitative easing, beyond its targeted end date.

Jonathan Loynes, economist at consultancy Capital Economics, said the meeting minutes supported the view that the bond buying plan will be ramped up to around EUR80 billion a month at one of the ECB's next two policy meetings.

A recent report showing consumer prices fell 0.1% in September from the previous year--far below the ECB's target of annual consumer price growth near 2%--which further fanned hopes that the ECB will eventually increase its quantitative-easing program.

Yet recent comments by ECB officials suggest they are in no immediate hurry to ramp up the bond-buying program while they assess the wider economic context of choppy financial markets, weak oil prices, and slowing growth in China among other emerging markets.

According to the meeting minutes, officials stressed that the bond purchase program is only about one-third complete, "implying that a substantial degree of accommodation was still in the pipeline."

Meanwhile, "uncertainty arising from developments in economic and financial conditions in emerging market economies, particularly China, had clearly increased," according to the minutes.

But gauging developments in China "was very challenging," the minutes stated, "and more time and analysis were needed these developments."

Still, the minutes alluded to some positive developments in Europe's economy. Unemployment has fallen and sentiment data have improved, the ECB noted, while fiscal belt-tightening by euro countries was no longer a drag on economic activity.

Notably, the ECB also said that price and cost adjustments between euro members, known as internal devaluation, appeared to be "largely complete."

Write to Brian Blackstone at brian.blackstone@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 08, 2015 09:13 ET (13:13 GMT)