Czech CNB 2001 Net CPI Target Seen At 3.6 Percent

The Czech central bank's (CNB) end-2001 inflation target, to be announced on Tuesday, is expected to aim at net inflation of around 3.6 percent year-on-year, a Reuters poll of analysts showed on Friday. The target rate - which measures consumer prices stripped of the effects of changes in government-regulated prices, taxes and tariffs - is used as the primary focus for the CNB governing board to set its monetary policy.The 14 analysts participating in the poll forecast the target in a range of between 3.0 and 5.0 percent, with both the median and mode midpoint of 3.5 percent. Net inflation stood at 2.1 percent year-on-year in March, while the headline rate was 3.8 percent. The central bank set its end-2000 target for net inflation at 3.5 to 5.5 percent but has acknowledged it may undershoot the bottom of the range. The CNB's governing board agreed next year's target at its Thursday's regular meeting, but said it will announce it at a news conference at 1130 GMT on Tuesday. The central bank has said it plans to eventually move to targeting headline CPI as the government completes post-communist price deregulation. The CNB set its end-2005 net inflation target at between 1.0 and 3.0 percent, expecting that net inflation by then will be in line with the headline consumer price index.