Central bank ups interest rates

The Czech central bank on Wednesday unexpectedly increased the two-week repo rate by 25 basis points to 1% in order to contain inflation.

At the same time, it increased the Lombard rate by 50 basis points to 2% and kept the discount rate unchanged at 0.05%. The new interest rate levels will come into effect on June 28,2018.

It is the third hike in under a year, as the country’s economy continues to accelerate and record-low unemployment pushes up wages. Analysts had not expected a hike until August.