The European Central Bank will maintain its bond-buying program until financial markets stabilize, ECB Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny told Japan's Nikkei newspaper in an interview published on Sunday.

On the euro's recent falls against the dollar, Nowotny said that, while volatile exchange rate moves were problematic, he saw the euro's current levels as normal.

The European Central Bank promised extra cash on Thursday to keep euro zone liquidity flush until the end of the year through its controversial government bond buying program.

The move throws the ECB's strategy for exiting stimulus measures further into reverse, after the central bank was forced to step in to stem a widening sovereign debt crisis a month ago by buying bonds and making extra loans available.

Nowotny, who is also Austrian central bank governor, told the paper that the ECB's bond-buying program was aimed at correcting distortions in specific markets, and was not a quantitative easing policy aimed at boosting money supply.

He also said the program was unlikely to fuel inflation or hurt the ECB's independence.

The euro has fallen nearly 16 percent this year to hover at a 4-year low against the dollar on lingering worries about Europe's debt problems.

(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Alex Richardson)

Japan European union European central bank Quantitative easing