It’s far cheaper to borrow money in euro than in Czech crowns, writes the daily E15, which points out the large differences in foreign exchange policies between the Czech National Bank and the European Central Bank. A loan in the local currency will set consumer back 3.72 percent, while companies can borrow in euro for just 1.5 percent. It’s the biggest differential between the two rates since October 2012 when the CNB began monitoring the indicator. “In the long term, we’ve been recording growth in the share of loans in euro,” says ČSOB’s director of loan products Jan Scholz. He warns against speculation in such loans. “For loans in euro, a company needs to have income in that currency,” he said. “We definitely have identified a rise in payments between our company clients in the currency,” he told E15.
