Czech central bank's Rusnok: forecasts see hike at year-end, cannot exclude earlier move

Rusnok, speaking after the board voted 6-1 to leave the main two-week repo rate at 0.75 percent, said a slower than forecasted appreciation of the crown could create room for a hike but that the weaker firming may also compensate for other circumstances that are anti-inflationary.

He added the crown exchange rate did not make the bank nervous. He said one board member vote for a rate hike on Thursday, arguing the economy was at the peak of a cycle.