In an interview with Bloomberg, a member of the Hungary’s Monetary Council said the country’s national bank will not be cutting its primary lending rate, despite deflationary pressures. Gyula Pleschinger told the news agency that the next move the bank was likely to make would be up, rather than down. “But it is not an issue in the foreseeable future,” he said. The central bank brought interest rates down from 7 percent to its current level of 2.1 percent over a period of two years in 24 consecutive monthly cuts. The value of the forint fell 9.1 percent compared to the euro in that time. Bloomberg points out that the Czech crown fell 9.8 percent over the same period, while the Polish zloty fell just 3.1 percent.
