ECB's Coeure says bank's measures are not a 'panacea'

ATHENS (Reuters) - Policy measures announced by the European Central Bank are not a "panacea" for the European economy, ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure told a Greek newspaper in an interview published on Saturday.

"Low rates for a prolonged period of time will help economies return back on track. The targeted (ECB) actions that will start being implemented in September will support lending to households and businesses," Coeure told the Kathimerini newspaper's Sunday edition.

"Of course the measures that we take are not a panacea. We eliminate some obstacles but monetary policy can not improve productivity and long-term growth."

To breathe life into a sluggish euro zone, the ECB cut interest rates to record lows in June and launched a series of measures to pump money into the economy.

Coeure earlier this week said ECB policy measures announced last month should be sufficient to help the euro zone economy, though the bank is ready to do more if needed.

(Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas, Writing by Deepa Babington; Editing by Dan Grebler)