RPT-Czech cbanker wants rate hike, governor offers no clue

                                
 (Repeats story published late on Wednesday)
                                
 * Neutral rate in current conditions 1-1.5 pct - Zamrazilova
                                
 * Zamrazilova has voted for hike in last three meetings
                                
 * Governor Singer: tough to say when rates will rise
                                
 
                                
 PRAGUE, Jan 26 (Reuters) - A board member of the Czech
central bank who has been a lone advocate of higher interest
rates has called for a clear signal the financial crisis is
over, but the bank's governor on Wednesday gave no clue on when
rates might rise.
                                
 In an interview published late on Tuesday on the website of
newspaper Hospodarske Noviny, bank board member Eva Zamrazilova
said current Czech interest rates had been appropriate during
the crisis but no longer.
                                
 She said she saw a neutral rate in the current conditions at
between 1 percent and 1.5 percent.
                                
 The Czechs have not yet followed the Hungarian or Polish
central banks which have already started tightening policy after
two years of loosening to get through the global economic
downturn.
                                
 Speaking to a students' seminar on Wednesday, central bank
Governor Miroslav Singer repeated comments from earlier in the
week, saying inflationary pressures existed but the strong crown
currency was taming them. [ID:nPRG004657]
                                
 Singer said it was impossible to say when rates would start
to rise.
                                
 "I do not know, I am not able to answer this (when rates
will rise)," Singer said in a question-and-answer session.
                                
 "At this moment, there are signs that inflation pressures
are starting to move in one direction, on the other hand the
crown is starting to firm strongly."
                                
 The bank has kept the key rate at 0.75 percent since May.
Zamrazilova has been the lone vote for a 25 basis point rate
hike at each of the last three meetings since September.
                                
 She has said that long-term loose policy was a risk for
financial stability.
                                
 "A neutral rate in the current conditions, I see somewhere
between...1 percent and 1.5 percent," Zamrazilova was quoted as
saying in the interview.
                                
 "The current setting of rates was adequate to the crisis
situation, now a clear signal that the crisis is over is
needed."
                                
 The board meets on policy again on Feb. 3. Analysts have
mostly seen rates staying stable next week. Markets are pricing
in a rate hike within six months.
                                
 The crown has led gains among central European currencies so
far this year, rising 3.4 percent to near highs last touched in
November 2008.
                                
 Singer's comments followed hawkish remarks by central bank
board member Pavel Rezabek earlier this month. [ID:nLDE70B0TQ]
  (Reporting by Robert Mueller and Jason Hovet; editing by
Stephen Nisbet)