FACTBOX-Czech central bankers' recent remarks on policy

...increasingly leaning in favour of raising interest 
rates rather than cutting them. 
    Markets widely expect the main rate to hold at 2.50 percent 
for a seventh consecutive month on Thursday after 75 basis 
points worth of hikes between October 2005 and September 2006. 
    But forward-looking money market rates  have risen 
since the previous CNB meeting on March 29, pricing in a repo 
rate rise   to 2.75 percent by July and 
another hike to 3.00 percent by October [CNB/INT]. 
    For a story on the shift in central bank communication, 
double click on [ID:nL1993581]. 
    Following are extracts from recent comments from CNB board 
members. 
 
 =========================COMMENTS============================== 
 
    GOVERNOR ZDENEK TUMA, SPEAKING TO REPORTERS, APRIL 18  
    "When I look at numbers for the past month, not that there 
have been any dramatic changes, but all confirm a very solid 
condition of the Czech economy. 
    "That can be interpreted as shifts in a slightly 
inflationary direction ... These shifts have been slight but for 
me this confirms that the next move will be rather upwards." 
    RELATED STORIES: [ID:nL18469315] [ID:nL198133] 
     
    VICE-GOVERNOR MIROSLAV SINGER, QUOTED IN NEWSPAPER, APRIL 14 
    Reacting to union demands at Skoda Auto carmaker for a pay 
rise ahead of inflation and national average wage growth, he 
replied: "Certainly, I do not underestimate it as a signal of 
strengthening inflationary pressures from demand growth." 
     
    BOARD MEMBER ROBERT HOLMAN, REUTERS INTERVIEW, APRIL 13 
    "Based on the economic information available to me so far, I 
see no bigger inflation risk ... and no reason for raising 
interest rates. 
    "We have not been raising interest rates up until now 
because our economic environment is low inflationary. It is 
possible that a longer period of stable interest rates lies 
ahead of us, but I do not know how long that period will be." 
    STORY: [ID:nL13548848]  
     
    STATEMENT ON MARCH CPI DATA, RELEASED ON APRIL 10  
    The consumer price index (CPI) net of regulated items and 
volatile food and fuel prices kept hovering at "very low levels" 
and signalled price pressures "remained modest", the CNB said. 
    STORY: [ID:nPRA001241] 
     
    MINUTES TO MARCH 29 POLICY MEETING, RELEASED ON APRIL 6 
    "The board agreed that the forecast risks were balanced and 
there were no strong arguments for either a rise or a cut in 
interest rates. 
    "The rising share of household consumption in GDP was 
mentioned as a moderate upside risk ... moderate downside risks 
included above all the observed incomplete pass-through of cost 
shocks into inflation." 
    STORY:[ID:nL06735130]  
    TEXT: [ID:nL06422019] 
     
    TUMA, NEWS CONFERENCE AFTER MONTHLY MEETING, MARCH 29  
    "The forecast (due for quarterly revision next month) still 
assumes that interest rates will head rather higher in the 
medium-term horizon. 
    "Stability is expected in the next few months... but then, 
in the horizon of a few months, the forecast assumes an interest 
rate rise," he said, adding this might mean rates could hold 
steady for one, two, three, four or even more months. 
    HIGHLIGHTS: [ID:nL29449470] 
    STORY: [ID:nL29598110] 
     
    SINGER, REUTERS INTERVIEW, MARCH 19 
    "The next move may go in either direction, because interest 
rates are more or less well set at the moment." 
    "So now I see stability, over the longer run I can imagine 
rates heading rather higher than lower given the cyclicality of 
economic developments." 
    STORY: [ID:nL19394999] 
    HIGHLIGHTS: [ID:nL19461770]  
     
    VICE-GOVERNOR LUDEK NIEDERMAYER, INTERVIEW WITH BLOOMBERG 
NEWS AGENCY, MARCH 16 
    "Right now, I think interest rates are where they should 
be," Niedermayer was quoted as saying, adding this "opens the 
possibility of a rate movement in both directions." 
    STORY: [ID:nL1621050] 
     
    BOARD MEMBER MOJMIR HAMPL, INTERVIEW WITH FINANCIAL WEB 
PORTAL, MARCH 12 
    "The pro-inflationary and anti-inflationary risks are 
relatively balanced and the moment of a potential rise in rates 
is certainly farther away than it might have seemed in the final 
months of last year." 
    STORY: [ID:nL12289539] 
 
    Click on [ID:nL26594225] for Factbox giving outline of each 
CNB board members' policy stance  
     
     
     
  Keywords: CZECH CENTRALBANK/QUOTES