Press releases
12. 2. 2021

CNB starts to publish Monetary Policy Report

A Monetary Policy Report becomes the Czech National Bank’s flagship publication on monetary policy at the beginning of this year. It replaces the Inflation Report published since 1998.

In switching to a Monetary Policy Report, the CNB is taking its place alongside the world’s leading central banks that have taken the same step. The CNB is following the lead of, for example, Sweden’s Riksbank, which has been publishing a Monetary Policy Report since 2007, and the Bank of England, which started to issue its publication of the same name in 2019.

“The change of name and above all content of our key monetary policy publication is aimed at further increasing the already high transparency of the CNB’s monetary policy,” said Deputy Governor Marek Mora, who is responsible for the Monetary Department in the Bank Board. “The report reflects the fact that members of the public – and especially specialists in the field – are more interested in how monetary policy is likely to react to future inflation developments than in a description of past or future inflation. It will therefore acquaint the Czech public in depth with the context of our monetary policy decisions,” added Marek Mora.

The revamped document therefore dispenses with the detailed factual account of past economic and monetary developments and focuses on key economic topics that have a dominant influence on the Czech economy, inflation and, in turn, monetary policy going forward. It thus offers a deeper insight into the CNB’s macroeconomic forecast and monetary policy-making, while remaining easy to read and understand.

The Report opens with a foreword by the Governor, who in each issue will present a fresh look at the topic that seems most relevant to the current economic situation. This “editorial” is followed by a section penned by the Executive Director of the Monetary Department, which is intended to summarise the Report in a clear and informative way. The rest of the publication is divided into four sections – on developments abroad, the domestic real economy and labour market, inflation and, last but not least, on monetary policy itself. As well as thematic boxes, it features other textual and graphical elements that lighten the document and thus make the issues easier to understand.

Each Monetary Policy Report will be accompanied by a stand-alone Chartbook in which data and other information entering the CNB’s monetary policy decision-making process are presented as charts and tables in a fixed structure.

The monetary policy regime is not changing. The Czech National Bank will continue to pursue its mandate of maintaining price stability by targeting inflation, a regime which has been in place since 1998.

Markéta Fišerová
Director of the Communications Division and CNB Spokesperson

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