Although COVID-19 hasn’t been great for the economy at large, there have been some silver linings for certain companies. Specifically when it comes to vaccines, some countries have reason to be hopeful in the financial realm.
The Czech Republic is one of those countries, and we may see them raise their interest rates in 2021. According to central bank Governor Jiri Rusnok, he believes that the economy will pick up towards the second half of 2021, and that unemployment will remain dormant.
It also doesn’t hurt that the country happens to have the lowest unemployment rate in the European Union. This fact, combined with their optimism about a handful of other fields, is why their interest rates may be raised twice throughout the year.
Although their hospitality and retail industries have been shut down due to the COVID-19, they’re still optimizing these avenues in other countries, which is certainly helping their economy.
“We will tread very cautiously to make sure we don’t undercut the fragile economic recovery by acting too early or tightening monetary conditions too fast,” said Rusnok. “Other than that, the outlook for gradual rate hikes is still valid and we’ll be mainly fine-tuning the timing.”
