The new head of Germany’s central bank has said it is time for Europe to tighten its financial belt by ending the exceptional monetary and fiscal stimulus that helped the economy to rebound swiftly from the pandemic.

Joachim Nagel, who took over as Bundesbank president last month, has called for a “normalisation” of eurozone monetary policy in response to record inflation and said EU fiscal rules should be “stricter” to prevent countries ignoring them.

“Many countries are beginning to relax the pandemic restrictions,” Nagel told Die Zeit in his first interview since starting the job. “The economy is recovering. The job markets are looking good. That’s an encouraging picture. That is why monetary policy can become less expansive.”