HELSINKI, Feb 12 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank may take action on interest rates in March, ECB Governing Council member Erkki Liikanen said in an interview published on Thursday.
The ECB on Feb. 5 kept interest rates steady at 2.0 percent but signalled it would probably cut rates next month.
Liikanen also said that the ECB's charter does not allow it to fund governments directly, and protectionism would be the worst possible outcome of the global financial crisis.
"Inflationary development and the markets' inflation expectations are now in line with our price stability objectives," Liikanen said in an interview with Finnish business newswire Startel.
"That gives us room to continue taking measures, and at the next meeting it is possible that we could move," said Liikanen, who is also governor of the Bank of Finland. "Nothing, however, is decided in advance." (Reporting by John Acher)