Yesterday was a yet another busy day at IPB - its stock fell to all time lows as hysteria concerning its financial problems has been gathering pace. Depositors allegedly withdrew CZK 1.35 bil. on Monday and even more on Tuesday. The state did issue a statement that called for the shareholders' action "to stabilize the bank". Should shareholders fail, the government and the central bank are ready to step in.
Meanwhile producer prices grew by 0.4% in May and retail sales grew by 2.3% in April. While producer price inflation was a bit higher than expected, retail sales growth fell short of expectations. Thus, mixed signals for the central bank continue.
The koruna received some (unwanted?) support from the CNB's governor who said he expected a strengthening of the koruna. The bouncy currency duly jumped and gained to 37.4 CZK/USD and below 36 CZK/USD. The koruna was as low as 41 CZK/USD and 37 CZK/EUR in mid-May. Since then, it gained 9% against the dollar and 3% against the euro.
(Ondrej Schneider and Dalimil Vyskovsky)