The Czech economy is overheating, in the view of vice governor of the Czech National Bank Mojmir Hampl. He’s less relaxed about the economy than others at the bank, which decided in early May not to raise interest rates against his advice. Hampl recommended that the main REPO rate be raised by 25 bps but the others on the bank committee that governs such moves opposed him, choosing to leave the rates at their current level of 0.75 percent. “There are two points of view,” he told Patria.cz. “The first says: Let’s wait and see. The second offers the picture of an overheating economy. We see the lack of labor on the market and we feel that the furnace is really heating a lot and that now may be the right moment to reach for the valve and turn down the heating a bit. I belong to the second camp,” said Hampl. The CNB is currently planning to raise interest rates once towards the end of the year.
