Oct 24 (Reuters) - Four of the Czech central bank's (CNB) seven policymakers have suggested a recent rise in the crown could slow the pace of further interest rate rises following three increases since May.
CNB Vice-Governors Ludek Niedermayer and Miroslav Singer, as well as policy board member Vladimir Tomsik, all cited the crown's nearly 6 percent rally since early July as curbing the need for additional policy tightening in the booming economy.
Governor Zdenek Tuma said after last month's rate-setting meeting that the trajectory of rising interest rates might be lower than previously expected.
Eleven analysts in a Reuters poll among 16 CNB watchers expected the CNB to hold the two-week repo rate at a five-year high of 3.25 percent on Oct. 25, after 150 basis points worth of hikes between October 2005 and August 2007.
Five forecast another 25 basis point increase this month.
For a Reuters poll on analysts' interest rate expectations, click on [].
Forward money market rates <CZKFRA> are pricing in one quarter of a percentage point rate rise by the end of the year.
Following are extracts from recent comments from CNB board members.
=========================COMMENTS==============================
BOARD MEMBER PAVEL REZABEK, SPEAKING AT A CONFERENCE, OCT 17
"Generally speaking, if our economy grows at a faster rate than the euro zone and inflation is not much higher versus euro zone levels, ... then the crown should appreciate.
"On the other hand, if growth grinds to a halt, it would be difficult to imagine the crown to appreciate."
STORY: []
GOVERNOR ZDENEK TUMA, TALKING TO REPORTERS AFTER MEETING TRADE UNION LEADERS, OCT 16
"I never draw any dramatic conclusions (from crown moves). I do not see any reason for the central bank to panic."
STORY: []
"Our warning, which has been already communicated by some of my colleagues, was that (wage) demands should not be excessive and should not be automatically linked to inflation projections for next year."
STORY: []
VICE-GOVERNOR LUDEK NIEDERMAYER, SPEAKING AT REUTERS CENTRAL EUROPEAN INVESTMENT SUMMIT, OCT 15
"What is clearly a factor reducing a lot of pressure to increase the interest rates is the appreciation of the currency. Compared to the situation when we were preparing the previous forecast, the currency is much stronger.
Asked if it was likely the new quarterly forecast, due on Oct. 25, would imply lower interest rate path than the previous hawkish one, Niedermayer said: "This is what I would expect."
STORY: []
TUMA, OPENING ADDRESS TO A CONFERENCE, OCT 15
"There are relatively significant tensions on the labour market, pressures on wages to grow can be expected to develop."
STORY: []
VICE-GOVERNOR MIROSLAV SINGER, INTERVIEW WITH DOW JONES NEWSWIRES, OCT 15
"Because the crown has appreciated in the last months, the (interest rate) increases, in my mind, can be slower than they have been, but there is still room for rates to go up."
STORY: []
BOARD MEMBER VLADIMIR TOMSIK, INTERVIEW WITH HOSPODARSKE NOVINY DAILY, OCT 11
"We are clear about where interest rates should be heading in medium-term horizon. It is not a debate about whether to be raising them or not.
"It is a debate about when and by how much to do so. It is ... a question how big the rise in our interest rates will be given the most recent events."
STORY: []
BOARD MEMBER MOJMIR HAMPL, INTERVIEW WITH BLOOMBERG, OCT 11
"Domestic factors continue to be pro-inflationary, indicating that the process of increasing rates is not over yet.
"I would say that domestic pro-inflationary factors are primary and information from outside is only secondary."
MINUTES OF SEPT 27 POLICY MEETING, RELEASED ON OCT 5
"The board discussed the current evolution of the exchange rate and agreed that its present level was strongly anti-inflationary compared to the forecast."
"The turmoil on global financial markets and the approval of the fiscal reform were identified as events raising the uncertainty of the decision-making process above its usual level."
STORY: [] TEXT: []
FACTBOX ON UPDATE CPI FORECAST: []
TUMA, NEWS CONFERENCE AFTER MONTHLY MEETING, SEPT 27
"If we make the assessment that perhaps the secondary impacts (of indirect tax changes) are not very significant, then yes ... theoretically it could lead to, for example, the trajectory of interest rates in the next forecast possibly being somewhat lower than it was in the previous one."
HIGHLIGHTS: [] STORY: []
(Compiled by Marek Petrus in Prague)
** For Factbox giving outline of each CNB board members' policy stance, click on []
((Reuters Messaging: rm://marek.petrus.reuters.com@reuters.net; e-mail: prague.newsroom@reuters.com or marek.petrus@reuters.com; Tel: +420 224 190 477; editing by David Christian-Edwards))
Keywords: CZECH CENTRALBANK/QUOTES
