The Czech National Bank left its weapons silent. CNB bank board decided yesterday not to change interest rates and not to intervene on the FX market, although the Czech currency still tends to appreciate. The exchange rate moved yesterday from the range of 31.70-31.75 CZK/EUR to the interval 31.55-31.60 CZK/EUR and keeps its strengthening.
The German government has announced that Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's visit to Prague has been postponed for the time being. The government gave no reasons for the decision. Relations between the countries flared recently over statements in an interview by Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman, who likened Sudeten Germans to traitors for whom post-war expulsion was better than the death penalty.
Premier Milos Zeman plays tit-for-tat. He said yesterday that the Hungarian law on Hungarians living abroad is "highly disputable". Zeman delivered the criticism in return for Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban's criticism of the Benes decrees made last week.
The U.S. economy expanded in the fourth quarter at the fastest pace in a year, reflecting more consumer purchases of American-made goods and the biggest government spending increase since 1978. Gross domestic product, the total value of all goods and services produced in the nation, rose at a revised 1.4% annual rate from October to December.
Consumer prices in the eurozone rose 2.5 percent from a year ago, after rising 2.7% in January.
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David Marek