The CNB comments on an article in Financial Times Deutschland

We would like to draw attention to an article written by Killian Kirchgessner published in Financial Times Deutschland (FTD) on 7 January under the headline “Tschechen lassen Euro-Fans zappeln”. This article quotes CNB Governor Zdeněk Tůma (see below) without saying that Mr Tůma’s comment was made in November 2007. This information has been taken in good faith by agencies and the media in the Czech Republic and beyond and has also affected the exchange rate of the koruna. Governor Tůma has given no interview to FTD this year, and the CNB considers such processing and presentation of market-sensitive information to be unprofessional and highly inappropriate.

"If the koruna’s exchange rate increases further, Tůma does not rule out central bank intervention. “If the fluctuations are too strong, we will react. As soon as the exchange rate moves become a factor for inflation, then that is a criterion for our policy decisions”, he said. He declined to specify the exchange rate at which central bankers would intervene."

Tschechen lassen Euro-Fans zappeln (Financial Times Deutschland, 7.1.2008, page 18, pdf, 25 kB) 

Pavlína Bolfová, CNB spokesperson