The board of the Czech National Bank (CNB) left interest rates unchanged at 2.5%, which was in-line with expectations. The CNB upped its GDP growth forecasts for this year to between a range of 4.9 – 6.5% from 4.4 – 6.2% and to 3.8 – 6.8% from 3.1 – 6.5% for next year.
According to the CNB forecast, inflation without excise taxes should reach 2.1 – 3.5% in March 2008 and 2.2 – 3.6% in September 2008. The CNB Governor, Zdenek Tuma, said that planned public budget reforms are a major uncertainty for the CNB and these could substantially influence the direction of the economy.