Czech central bank chief: at ‘end of rapid tightening’ -paper

PRAGUE, Dec 11 (Reuters) – The Czech National Bank is not finished raising interest rates, but there is no need for hikes as aggressive as it delivered at the last two policy meetings, Governor Jiri Rusnok was quoted as saying.

The central bank raised the main two-week repo rate (CZCBIR=ECI) by 125 basis points in November, its largest increase in 24 years, after a 75 basis-point hike in September, mainly to prevent inflationary expectations from decoupling.

“The period of raising rates is not over yet, but we are at an end of rapid tightening, when we had to exit from expansive policy,” Rusnok said in an interview published by Mlada Fronta Dnes newspaper on Saturday.

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The key rate stands at 2.75% ahead of the next policy meeting on Dec. 22.

“I expect us to debate whether to raise the (main) rate by a quarter or by a half of percentage point” at the next meeting, he said in the interview.

That would be in line with market expectations, scaled back sharply in late November, when Rusnok told Reuters the central bank could moderate its tightening pace and possibly consider a pause this month.

Before the comments, markets were predicting a 75 basis-point rate rise.

Rusnok said that the central bank expects inflation to peak around 7% at the beginning of the year, when higher energy prices will take full effect.

Annual inflation reached 6% in November, and analysts said that it could have been faster if not for a government waiver on value-added tax on energy. read more

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Reporting by Robert Muller; Editing by William Mallard

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

source: reuters.com