⁍ The Czech crown retreated from a multi-month high on Thursday after the central bank held interest rates steady.

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⁍ A Reuters poll on Thursday forecast most currencies in the region would gain in the coming year.

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⁍ Czech policymakers have been among the most aggressive incutting borrowing costs to deal with the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

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– The Czech Republic’s central bank left its key interest rate unchanged at 1% today, as expected, and signaled that rates won’t rise until 2021 at the earliest, Reuters reports. The central bank has been cutting rates to deal with the H1N1 virus, which has hit the country hard, but the economy is still contracting and inflation is above the bank’s 2% target. “I think the CNB can hold interest rates unchanged until the end of 2021 as the crown can be stronger than forecast in its forecast and the CNB will have no reason to hurry with tightening rates,” one economist says. The Czech crown had hit a seven-month high of 26.10 to the euro earlier today, but it was down about half a percent at 26.10 this morning, according to Reuters. The Polish zloty was down 0.07% to 4.405 to the euro, and Hungary’s forint dropped 0.32% to 1.2770.81. The Romanian leu was steady at 4.836 per euro.