Joe Parkinson (Dow Jones Newswires)
ISTANBUL - Czech Central Bank Governor Zdenek Tuma said Monday that the koruna remains very strong and inflationary risk in the economy is low, suggesting that there could be room to loosen monetary from its current record low.
Tuma, who was outvoted in calling for an interest rate cut at the central bank's Sept. 24 meeting, said "the exchange rate is very strong...but there is no strong inflationary risks," cautioning that he couldn't prejudge events before the October policy meeting.
Czech interest rates are at a record low of 1.25% after policy makers trimmed the main two-week repo rate by a cumulative 250 basis points since August last year.
Earlier Monday, the Czech Central Bank's Vice-Governor Miroslav Singer said in a presentation that further cuts in Czech interest rates can't be ruled out if price pressures from both home and abroad fall further.