Midweek, the Slovak crown depreciated towards its reference currency, the euro. It opened at 41.160/190 SKK/EUR, however, London players were closing their long crown positions and the local currency weakened above 41.200 SKK/EUR. After the statement of the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) Governor Marian Jusko that the central bank is ready to use all instruments, including interest rate cuts, to prevent the strengthening of the Slovak crown, the SKK depreciated to 41.300 SKK/EUR, VUB dealer Ladislav Benedek said. However, many investors still have a lust for the local currency. They used the situation to purchase the crown and corrected its exchange rate to 41.230/260 SKK/EUR.

Mr. Benedek suggested that on Friday and next week the Slovak crown will stabilize in the band 41.100-41.350 SKK/EUR. He said that concerns over the central bank’s direct intervention will prevent further appreciation of the crown. After the crown stabilizes in this band, the central bank will have no reasons to postpone lowering of key interest rates. He expects the central bank to take the measure sooner than the end of the month when the NBS bank board regularly gathers over the monetary issues.

Slovak crown moved towards the USD at 36.240/290 SKK/USD, the USD was quoted against the euro at 1.1360 USD/EUR. The cross rate of the Slovak and Czech currencies was 1.313/315 SKK/CZK.