By CentralBankNews.info
The central bank of the Czech Republic left its benchmark two-week repo rate steady at 0.05 percent and confirmed its commitment to using the exchange rate as an additional policy tool for easing monetary conditions.
The Czech National Bank (CNB) cut its rate to the current level in November 2012 and has been keeping the koruna at or below 27 to the euro since November 2013 through interventions.
In September the CNB’s board discussed using negative interest rates and postponing the exit from the exchange rate policy due to the risks from the global economy, but ended up confirming that it would stick to its exchange rate target at least until mid-2016 and kept the rate steady.
Inflation in the Czech Republic rose slightly to 0.4 percent in September from 0.3 percent in August, well below its 2.0 percent target, while Gross Domestic Product grew by a larger-than-expected 1.1 percent in the second quarter from the first for annual growth of 4.6 percent, up form 4.0 percent.
The Czech National Bank issued the following statement: