MADRID: Euro zone banks have so far coped with sub-zero European Central Bank rates, and their weak earnings are a bigger obstacle to the sector's recovery, ECB chief economists Peter Prate said on Wednesday.

Praet said the ECB needed to keep rates negative for now and sub-zero rates will remain a policy option for the bank given the bloc's challenges, especially in raising inflation back to target.

The ECB expects rates to remain at their current or lower levels for an extended period, well past the horizon of its net asset purchases.

Copyright Reuters, 2016