CNB Governor Aleš Michl wins second international award

Czech National Bank Governor Aleš Michl has been named Central Banker of the Year for Europe by The Banker, a member of the Financial Times Group. The prestigious award highlights his successful strategy for curbing extremely high inflation and achieving the 2% target in 2024. This is the second international award he has received this year.

With Governor Aleš Michl at the helm, the Bank Board stabilised interest rates at the restrictive level of 7% in 2022 while betting on a strong koruna policy. Thanks to these monetary conditions, which were the tightest in 20 years, inflation returned to exactly 2% in February 2024 – one of the first in the region to do so. The jury noted that the Governor thus kept the promise he made upon his appointment to bring the country’s high inflation down to the 2% target within two years.

“When I became Governor in 2022, I pledged to bring inflation down to 2% within two years – and we have delivered on that promise. A key factor in this was a change in monetary policy strategy, which I outlined in my ‘Policy for a strong koruna’ speech in autumn 2022. By spring 2023, the exchange rate of the koruna against the euro was at its strongest ever level. This made imports of then-expensive commodities cheaper and simultaneously tightened monetary conditions for exporters borrowing in euros. Monetary policy thus became the tightest it had been in 20 years. We communicated that key interest rates would remain high for longer. Only then did monetary policy start to take effect – despite no change to the CNB’s key rates – and inflation began to fall. Sometimes, less is more. A consistent, long-term approach to monetary policy is better than keeping interest rates at zero for over ten years and then being surprised when inflation sets in. Thinking we can magically solve it by quickly raising rates on the assumption that inflation is a ‘monetary phenomenon’, is not entirely realistic,” said CNB Governor Aleš Michl.

With this prestigious award from The Banker magazine, Aleš Michl has joined the ranks of the world’s most prominent central bankers who have actively contributed to price stability and strengthened investor confidence. The Banker, published by the Financial Times, annually recognises leading figures in international central banking. This year, the title of Central Banker of the Year at the global level was awarded to US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for his leadership during a challenging economic period.

In addition to The Banker’s Central Banker of the Year for Europe this year, Aleš Michl has also succeeded at the global level. In the international Central Banking Awards, organised under the auspices of the renowned Central Banking magazine, he was named Governor of the Year – becoming the first central banker in the history of the Czech Republic to receive this distinction.

More information: https://www.thebanker.com/content/002ece2a-c11f-5853-8e00-3b8ae34b8d48

Jakub Holas
Director, CNB Communications Division

Name	Domain	Expiration	Description
cc_cookie	cnb.cz	1 year	Used to establish a session with the cookie bar after our website is loaded for the first time, including the management of your settings regarding consent to the use of cookies on our website.
YSC	youtube.com	Valid during the session, i.e. during the time you are viewing our website.	Used to remember your access and integrate your YouTube actions.
PREF	youtube.com	2 years	Used by YouTube for storing your preferences and other unspecified purposes.
JSESSIONID	cnb.cz	Valid during the session, i.e. during the time you are viewing our website.	We use it to maintain an anonymous user session on the part of the server.

Name	Domain	Expiration	Description
_ga	cnb.cz	2 years	Helps us understand how you use our website. Used to distinguish between individual users.
_gat	cnb.cz	1 minute	Helps us understand how you use our website. Used to limit the speed and frequency of requests.
_gid	cnb.cz	24 hours	Helps us understand how you use our website. Used to distinguish between individual users.
_utma	google.com	2 years	Helps us understand how you use our website. Used to distinguish between users and sessions. The cookie file is created upon the launch of a javascript library if no _utma cookie files currently exist. The cookie file is updated every time data are sent to Google Analytics.

Name	Domain	Expiration	Description
1P_JAR	google.com	1 month	Sets a unique ID for storing your preferences and other information such as website statistics and tracking conversion rates.
OGPC	google.com	1 month	Used to manage your preferences in Google. The cookie file saves your preferences and user information every time you visit a website containing Google Maps.
NID	google.com	6 months	Used to manage your preferences in Google. The cookie file contains a unique ID used by Google to remember your settings and other information, e.g. your preferred language and how many search results per page you want to view.
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE	youtube.com	6 months	Used to manage your preferences on YouTube. The cookie file contains a unique ID used by YouTube to remember your settings and other information, e.g. your preferred language and how many search results per page you want to view. In addition, it helps detect and remove problems with the service.
CONSENT	youtube.com	20 years	Used by YouTube to store your consent to the use of third-party content.
cc_youtube	cnb.cz	1 year	Used to manage your preferences regarding consent to the use of cookies related to viewing YouTube video content on our website.