Governor Andras Simor, who was voted down last month when the bank cut interest rates for the first time in more than two years, confirmed in an interview with website Portfolio.hu that the Council was deeply split in its views over policy.

Simor said it was not worth drawing conclusions from only the August rate decision, and the course of monetary policy should be judged along with the decisions to be taken in the next few months.

"As for myself, I will continue to make my decisions thinking within the framework of inflation-targeting," Simor said.