- The Banking Association has sent a memorandum to Czech banks with instructions how to deal with money of persons suspected of terrorism. The banks were provided with a list of subjects to whom sanctions would apply. The individuals on the blacklist will not be serviced and financial operations with their accounts have to be reported to the Finance Ministry. The CNB is not authorized to freeze suspicious accounts. The only institution entitled to do so is a court based on an indication by the financial analyst office of the Finance Ministry (FAU).
- CNB announced that the payment of EUR 1.18bn for the sold state-owned stake in KB will be deposited on a special foreign currency account of the National Property Fund at the CNB and the drawing will then be spread over a certain period of time. Decision on the spread of the drawing had been made following a CNB agreement with the FNM and the Finance Ministry. The special foreign currency account was opened several years ago in order to prevent excessive exchange rate fluctuations following large foreign currency transactions tied to major privatization cases in the country. The Czech crown hit new all-time highs against the euro on Wednesday morning and the CNB Board was discussing developments in the foreign exchange market yesterday.
- The power utility CEZ put up for sale its continuous supplies of electricity for 2002 which the SME (as the only power distributor) failed to contract. Five out of sixteen bidders who had applied in a tender for the electricity will be satisfied. The total demand exceeded the offered volume three times. The bidding started at 0.734 CZK/kWh but in the end the electricity was sold for the minimum price of 0.750 CZK/kWh and the average price reached 0.761 CZK/kWh. Mostly authorized dealers, distribution companies and key customers were successful in the auction.
- Deputy Finance Minister Eduard Janota said that the state might get at least CZK 10bn from the sale of the UMTS licences in 2001, which would be a half of the sum originally required. According to Janota´s information, there is no reason for the sum not to be paid to the state budget this year. Head of the Czech Telecoms Office (CTU), David Stadnik, admitted that he was still to secure CZK 20bn for the UMTS licences, that is, CZK 6.7bn per each. The CTU is currently negotiating about a compromise on the terms of granting the licences and particularly on the payment schedule, because the operators want to spread the payment over twenty years. The CTU has to allocate the three UMTS licences by the end of November.
- The Czech crown trading calmed yesterday, in the aftermath of a verbal intervention by CNB vice-governor Niedermayer against the currency. Against the euro, the crown was moving between 33.64 and 33.76 CZK/EUR all the day and closed at 33.70/73, only slightly up from late Wednesday’s 33.74/77. Vis-a-vis the dollar, the trading was also much less hectic than before, partly owing to relative EUR/USD stability. Late on the day, CZK/USD was trading at 36.85/87, down from 36.75/77 on Wednesday.
- Bond prices dipped in nervous trading on Thursday. Higher volatility was fueled by turbulent development on the interest swap market. The bond market opened 20-30bps below the previous day’s levels and the downslide trend sustained during the first half of the yesterday’s session. In the afternoon, the market witnessed a cautious correction. The longest state 6.95/16 bond lost 25bps to 105.55/85, yielding 6.34/31 %. The state 6.75/05 bond shed 10bps to 103.05/30, yielding 5.71/63 %.
| Late on October 4 | bond yield | Late on October 3 |
| CZK/EUR | 33.70/73 | - | 33.74/77 |
| CZK/USD | 36.85/877 | - | 36.75/77 |
| State 6.75/05 | 103.05/30 | 5.71/63 | 103.15/40 |
| State 6.95/16 | 105.55/85 | 6.34/31 | 105.80/10 |
(Martin Kupka)