Czech central bank chief: interest rates need to stay at higher level than normal -paper

PRAGUE (Reuters) – The Czech National Bank should keep its interest rates at an elevated level in order to fulfill its main goal which is to bring down inflation, Governor Ales Michl said.

“It is necessary to keep interest rates at higher level than normal,” Michl said in his weekly op-ed piece published by Mlada Fronta Dnes daily newspaper.

Michl did not specify what level he saw as normal.

The central bank has raised its main interest rate by 675 basis points over the past year to 7.00%, the highest level in two decades. Michl has been opposing the tightening.

(Reporting by Robert Muller; Editing by Toby Chopra)