The interest rate policy of chosen central banks in the east-central europe

This study sets out to analyse the interest rate policy of three chosen central banks in the East-Central Europe (the National Bank of Poland, the Czech National Bank, the National Bank of Hungary) in the years 2001-2011. The paper contains a theoretical description of the role of the interest rate and the dilemmas associated with the conduct of the interest rate policy, as well as of the objectives and strategies of the monetary policy in Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. The first empirical part is intended to check how the chosen central banks respond to changes of the inflation rate, the unemployment rate and of the real GDP growth rate. The instruments of the analysis are the nominal and real interest rates. The next empirical section shows an attempt to assess whether, in the context of the Taylor rule, the interest rate policy of the chosen central banks was or was not too restrictive. The article concludes with a summary providing conclusions.