Czech Republic

The Czech Republic’s central bank on Thursday cut its key interest rate for the eighth time in a row as inflation remains low and as the economy is making a slow recovery, the Associated Press reported. The cut, which had been predicted by analysts, brought the interest rate down by a quarter of a percentage point to 4%. The bank started to trim borrowing costs by a quarter-point on Dec. 21, the first cut since June 22, 2022. Further cuts of half a percentage point followed on Feb. 8, March 20, May 2, and June 27. Cuts of a quarter of a percentage point came on Aug. 1 and Sept. 25.
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Czech central bank Governor Ales Michl reaffirmed his message of caution in monetary easing as he seeks to avoid a fresh wave of inflation, Bloomberg News reported. While consumer price growth has stabilized near the 2% target, policymakers are wary of continued increases in costs of services and of budget deficits, Michl said in an interview with Seznamzpravy.cz published on Friday. The Czech National Bank must proceed “very cautiously” with further interest-rate cuts, and it may halt them if those inflation risks grow, he said.
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The Czech Republic’s central bank on Wednesday cut its key interest rate for the seventh time in a row as inflation remains low and amid the economy’s slow recovery, the Associated Press reported. The cut, which had been predicted by analysts, brought the interest rate down by a quarter of a percentage point to 4.25%. The bank started to trim borrowing costs by a quarter-point on Dec. 21, the first cut since June 22, 2022. Further cuts of half a percentage point each time followed on Feb. 8, March 20, May 2 and June 27. Another cut by a quarter of a percentage point came on Aug 1.
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The Czech central bank is in the process of easing its monetary policy but interest rates will stay higher than what they used to be over the past 10 years, according to Governor Ales Michl, Bloomberg News reported. Rate setters in Prague need to keep borrowing costs elevated for a longer period of time and avoid making rushed, ad-hoc monetary policy steps and experiments, Michl wrote in remarks about his trip to the annual gathering of policymakers and academics in Jackson Hole. “It’s better to have a more consistent, but overall more restrictive policy,” he said.
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