PRAGUE: The Czech central bank (CNB) held its interest rates unchanged at record-low levels on Thursday, keeping the key two-week rate at 0.75 percent.
"The CNB bank board decided to keep interest rates at the current level. The two-week repo rate stays at 0.75 percent, the (overnight) discount rate at 0.25 percent, and the (overnight) Lombard rate at 1.75 percent," the bank said.
The rates have been flat since May 2010, and analysts forecast that the bank will keep them unchanged for the rest of the year.
The Czech economy of 10.5 million heavily dependent on the car industry slumped into recession in the last two quarters of 2011, while full-year growth for 2011 reached 1.7 percent.
The central bank predicts zero growth for this year because of low foreign demand caused by the eurozone crisis and a recovery with 1.9 percent growth in 2013 on a revival in foreign demand.
The Czechs are obliged to join the euro under the terms of their 2004 EU entry deal, but there is no deadline for the move and Prague says it is not planning to join in the near future, given the eurozone debt crisis.
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