(Repeats story published late on Wednesday)
* Main rate stays at 0.75 percent, lowest in CEE
* Governor sees great uncertainties abroad
* Cites euro zone crisis, commodity prices
* Says any move in rates possible, and sooner than f'cast
By Jana Mlcochova and Robert Mueller
PRAGUE, Dec 22 (Reuters) - The Czech central bank held
borrowing costs as expected on Wednesday, and said mounting
uncertainty over how the euro zone's debt crisis will play out
meant the direction of its next rate move was unclear.
All analysts in a Reuters poll had forecast the bank would
keep the two-week repo rate at a record low 0.75 at its final
meeting of 2010.
A majority believed rates would start to rise by the middle
of 2011, later than elsewhere in central Europe, as growth
slowed while inflation stayed benign. None had forecast a cut.
Governor Miroslav Singer told a news conference the euro
zone's debt struggles, rising commodity prices and Germany's
economic outperformance were close to becoming risks to the
bank's outlook.
"They are certainly significant uncertainties," Singer said.
"They have the capability to turn into relatively big risks that
may force us into some moves earlier than what we expect now
according to the forecast, whether that be up or down.
The market did not react to Singer's comments, with the
shortest-dated forward rate agreement, showing three-month rates
in one months time, unchanged at 1.219/279 percent.
The crown was flat in slow holiday trade at 25.26 to the
euro.
'LEAVING THE DOOR OPEN'
"Any further easing is (or should be) in our view out of
question but bankers obviously leave the doors open for anything
that may come," Ceska Sporitelna analyst Martin Lobotka said in
a note following the bank's news conference.
The bank voted 6-1 to hold the repo rate, used to skim
surplus liquidity, for the eighth month running.
One board member, as yet unnamed, voted for a 25 basis point
rise. Ratesetter Eva Zamrazilova had voted for a hike at the
past two meetings.
The bank's latest forecast in November showed a rise in
interest rates starting towards the end of 2011.
But Singer's comments chimed in with signs of a recent shift
towards a more dovish outlook from a second ratesetter.
Vice Governor Mojmir Hampl told Reuters last week that
fallout from the euro zone debt crisis was increasingly likely
and policy could be eased if it materialised.
Singer said on Wednesday it was possible to observe a
"double-track" development in the economy with one part still
struggling to get out of crisis while some companies were
already planning their next expansion.
He added risks to the bank's forecast were balanced and the
economic development showed the bank's forecast was
materialising.
Lower than forecast growth in nominal wages was the key
downside risk while growing commodity prices and a weaker crown
rate were the main upside risks, he said.
The bank surprised markets with its economic outlook in
November in which it predicted the next year's GDP growth at 1.2
percent, a sharp deceleration from this year's expected 2.3
percent. It said budget cuts, among others, will knock growth
down.
The Polish central bank also kept rates on hold on Wednesday
and is seen hiking early in 2011, while Hungary's central bank
raised borrowing costs to 5.75 percent on Monday.
(Writing by Jason Hovet and Jana Mlcochova; Editing by John
Stonestreet)
