* Sees upward CPI pressures, says 25 bps hike appropriate
* Sees wider interest rate differential with ECB no problem
* Will not attend March 24 policy meeting
By Jana Mlcochova
PRAGUE, March 14 (Reuters) - The Czech central bank should raise interest rates by a quarter-point to head off inflation that is set to accelerate and put real rates back in positive territory, bank policymaker Kamil Janacek said.
Janacek, who joined the bank's governing board nine months ago and has already voted to raise rates on a finely split policy board, told Reuters in an interview borrowing costs should rise in the central European export-reliant economy despite a series of downbeat data in the past week.
But he added that he would not attend the bank's March 24 rate meeting, reducing the chance of a rate rise that 12 out of 18 analysts surveyed in a Reuters poll believe will come before the end of June.
"I can perceive a significantly strong danger of accelerating inflation and that is why I think that it is appropriate to raise rates by 25 basis points," Janacek said.
Czech rates have been at a record low 0.75 percent since May 2009. The governing board was split 4-3 against a rate hike at the February meeting.
The hike advocates, including Janacek, are at odds with the bank's staff forecast implying stable rates before a gradual rise as of the end of the year. One of them however, Robert Holman, was replaced last month by newcomer Lubomir Lizal, a respected economist who has yet to reveal his stance on rates.
Analysts say January and February inflation and fourth quarter GDP data, all of which came in below the central bank's forecast, and a dip in real wages, could delay rate tightening.
But Janacek said he expected foreign demand for Czech industrial products would be markedly larger than what is generally expected and that wages in the manufacturing industry would rise and lead to a pick-up in demand.
ECB IMPACT
Janacek said that in an environment of a recovery, real interest rates -- taking account of headline inflation now at 1.8 percent -- should first rise close to zero and then slightly above, rather than remaining negative.
He added that the bank kept the door open to react to changing conditions.
"Markets must price in the fact that the Czech National Bank has shown several times in the past that it is able to react very quickly and very flexibly, and even outside the regular schedule of monetary policy sessions," he said.
Many analysts predict the next vote on March 24 will be a tough call again after the European Central Bank (ECB) signaled it could raise rates in April, a move that would widen further the negative interest rate differential for Czechs.
But Janacek said ECB decisions were not what drove the Czech bank board's policy. A rise in euro zone rates would likely weaken the crown moderately and for a short period of time, he said, but that would be no problem because it would help Czech exporters by making their goods cheaper abroad.
It would also further strengthen the barrier against an inflow of speculative capital, which he said was already strong.
The Czechs have in recent years maintained rates below the euro zone -- in 2007 they were more than 1 percentage point lower -- and the negative interest rate differential did not lead to major capital outflows, as some had feared.
(Editing by Patrick Graham)
((prague.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: jana.mlcochova.reuters.com@reuters.net; +420-224 190 479))