The European Central Bank should start thinking about gradually withdrawing its economic stimulus measures, as the risk of acting “too late” against soaring inflation grows, an ECB policymaker has told the Financial Times. The comments by Isabel Schnabel, a member of the ECB’s executive board, will strengthen the position of “hawks” on the governing council, who would like to see a faster tightening of monetary policy. Record 5.1 per cent inflation in the eurozone in January meant “the risk of acting too late has increased and therefore we need a careful reassessment of the inflation outlook,” Schnabel told the Financial Times in an interview published late on Tuesday on the bank’s website. The bank’s assessment had to be reviewed in light of the relatively mild impact of the Omicron variant on the economy, Schnabel said, as well as a recent drop in unemployment which could mean wage growth – and therefore inflation – is “stronger than we originally expected”. “All of this implies that it has become increasingly likely that inflation is going to stabilise around our two per cent target over the medium term,” Schnabel said, according to a transcript of the interview released by...