Czech, Polish Central Banks to Keep Rates Steady Next Week

        By Sean Carney
        As domestic demand in central Europe increases while exports rise, economic growth has taken root in the region and as a result analysts expect the Czech and Polish central banks to keep interest rates unchanged in the week ahead.
        The Czech central bank will probably reiterate its intent to keep the koruna weak against the euro and interest rates at near-zero levels through the end of the year as the country's headline inflation rate still hovers just above zero.
        Despite little upward pressure on consumer prices in the Czech Republic, the economy has clearly found solid footing, and retail sales and industrial output data for March should post solid annual growth.
        The Polish central bank will keep rates at record lows as annual inflation remains below 1%, which is well below the bank's 2.5% inflation target.
        (Veronika Gulyas in Budapest and Patryk Wasilewski in Warsaw contributed to this article)
        Write to Sean Carney at sean.carney@wsj.com
        Go to http://blogs.wsj.com/emergingeurope/ for the WSJ blog on Central and Eastern Europe, covering business, politics, society and more, written by our correspondents across the region.
        (END) Dow Jones Newswires

        May 02, 2014 09:36 ET (13:36 GMT)