LUXEMBOURG — The International Monetary Fund on Thursday said that if inflation continued to drag, the euro zone’s central bank could do more to invigorate the economy by buying government bonds and other financial assets.

Such a program would in effect emulate the Federal Reserve’s stimulus efforts. The I.M.F., in its annual report on the euro-currency union, also criticized its rules for managing national budgets as complicated and poorly enforced — even as some member nations continue to call for greater leeway.

The stimulus recommendation from the I.M.F., which included a presentation Thursday evening by the fund’s managing director, Christine Lagarde, was made here at a meeting of finance ministers from the 18-country euro zone. It aligned the fund with a chorus of economists urging more aggressive action to stimulate the euro zone’s barely growing economy and address its troublingly low levels of inflation.

“If inflation remains stubbornly low, the E.C.B. should consider a large-scale asset purchase program, primarily of sovereign assets,” the report said. This “would boost confidence, improve corporate and household balance sheets, and stimulate bank lending,” it said.