European Central Bank Governing Council member Luc Coene signaled officials may cut interest rates to a record low next month, after leaving them unchanged Thursday.

Asked whether ECB President Mario Draghi laid the groundwork for lowering borrowing costs in October, Coene told reporters in Luxembourg that “that is one possible interpretation but there are others as well.”

Coene, who heads the Belgian central bank, said the rate decision will depend on “how the economy will develop.”

The ECB Thursday cut its growth forecast for 2012 to minus 0.4 percent from a minus 0.1 percent prediction in June and for next year sees growth of 0.5 percent, down from a previous forecast of 1 percent.