Josef Tošovský resigned as the governor of the CNB. Miroslav Hrnčíř leaves the CNB bank board as well and both resign as of November 30. The president will appoint a new governor and two new bank board members in November, when he still have the sole power to do so. Mt. Tošovský's resignation was expected and id not have any major impact on the Czech markets. It did, however, make waves with Czech politicians who are aghast that the president may nominate a new governor for six years without consulting, horror, them. What may be more important than the new governor himself will be two new board members who may tilt the CNB's towards a loose or tighter monetary policy.
The ministry of finance expects this year state budget deficit to reach CZK 43 bil., instead of budgeted CZK 35 bil. High oil prices and lower excise tax revenues were blamed by the ministry for lower tax revenues.
The Czech koruna held steady, ignoring the governor's resignation. The koruna is thus stable at 34.85 CZK/EUR and as the euro recovered slightly vis-a-vis the dollar, the koruna gained to 40.80 CZK/USD.
Bonds were steady on Tuesday. In a very quiet day, only a few trades have been done. Even central bank governor's resignation did not give the market new direction and market seems to be unsure about near future of bonds. Government bond auction on Friday is therefore awaited eagerly, as well as CPI figures on next week.
Current benchmark prices: MoF 6.75/05 99.00-30 (+5 bps), MoF 6.30/07 94.05-35 (unchanged), MoF 6.40/10 92.10-40 (-5 bps).
(Ondrej Schneider and Dalimil Vyskovsky)