The European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi said in a speech on Thursday that it is better to act earlier than too late as the risks are too high.

"Adopting a wait-and-see attitude and extending the policy horizon brings with it risks: namely a lasting de-anchoring of expectations leading to persistently weaker inflation. And if that were to happen, we would need a much more accommodative monetary policy to reverse it. Seen from that perspective, the risks of acting too late outweigh the risks of acting too early," he said.

Draghi noted that the central bank's inflation target might be reached slower than previously estimated.

The ECB president pointed out that the central bank will add further stimulus measures if needed.

"There can be no doubt that if we needed to adopt a more expansionary policy, the risk of side effects would not stand in our way. We always aim to limit the distortions caused by our policy, but what comes first is the price stability objective," he said.