The International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s top official for Europe said on Friday that the European Central Bank (ECB) "still has room" for further monetary easing.

"In our view, the ECB still has some room for monetary easing and we believe they will make use of it in a timely manner," Marek Belka, director of the IMF's European Department, told a press briefing at an annual spring meetings of the World Bank and IMF.

Financial officials and experts from all over the world were gathering in Washington for three days of discussions beginning on Friday to work out ways to fight against the current global financial crisis and economic downturn.

Hinting Europe not doing enough in terms of macroeconomic policy when addressing the crisis, Belka said the fiscal policy, including through the automatic stabilizers, "has moved to support the economy this year and next."

He said he is confident that macroeconomic policies will help Europe to soften the downturn, calling the monetary and fiscal policy makers in Europe to be "fully effective," as Europe needs to move rapidly to iron out its financial sector problems.

ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said earlier this week that the ECB is considering additional monetary easing measures to support the economy.

Calling that the next rate cut would be "very measured," Trichet said the rate-setting body has several good reasons to avoid lowering interest rates to zero.

On April 2, the ECB lowered its key interest rate to a record low of 1.25 percent. There are market speculations that the ECB will further let down its interest rate at its next governing council meeting in May.