Czech cbanker says rate hikes may continue -agency

...boom, CNB policymaker Mojmir Hampl was quoted as saying on Thursday.

Hampl, who adopted a distinctly hawkish stance on inflation in recent months, told the Bloomberg news agency in an interview that price pressures stemming from robust, 6 percent economic growth were keeping the CNB on alert.

He said a sharp, 4.7 percent rise in the crown against the euro since early July and the risk of global financial market turbulence hampering Czech economic expansion were not enough to calm his inflationary concerns.

"Domestic factors continue to be pro-inflationary, indicating that the process of increasing rates is not over yet," Hampl was quoted as saying.

"I would say that domestic pro-inflationary factors are primary and information from outside is only secondary."

Policymakers raised interest rates to a five-year high of 3.25 percent in August, but the crown's rally and uncertainty fed by the global credit crunch made them stand pat in September and suggest the scope for further rate hikes was diminishing.

[PRAGUE/Reuters/Finance.cz]