• Government is considering Budvar privatization. Sale of Ceske Budejovice brewery could, according to Minister of Trade Martin Riman, bring CZK 20-30bn to the state budget. Need for out-of-budget funds financing could be one of the reasons for privatisation.
• European Commission is most probably going to warn czech government against medium term budget risks, according to Bloomberg. At the same time there should be an appeal on more labour market flexibility.
• Producers’ price index increased by 1.2% m/m in January. Inflation in production prices increased to 2.8% y/y from 2.6% in December. Prices of electricity and coal contributed most to January growth.
• Bank of Japan increased its key rate by 25bp to 0.5% which is the highest interest rate level in Japan for the last ten years. Japanese central bank governor Toshihiko Fukui noted that his institution will not rush with further interest rates hikes.
• Fitch Ratings Agency confirmed rating of USA on „AAA“, while leaving stable outlook unchanged. Short term credit rating in foreign currency was confirmed on „F1+“.