(Bloomberg) -- Hungary’s central bank will keep the current pace of its monthly interest-rate cuts, Deputy Governor Barnabas Virag said on Thursday, presenting a path that appeared to push back against government pressure to speed up monetary easing.

The current environment supports the continuation of reductions in 75 basis points increments, Virag said at an event in Budapest organized by think-tank OMFIF, adding that global risks represented the main argument against cutting faster.

The main interest rate is set to drop below 11% by the end of the year and enter single digits in February 2024, Virag said. This would be in line with an unchanged pace of monthly rate cuts.

The central bank has been under pressure from the government to speed up the cuts after the economy slid into a recession last year, though growth started recovering by the third quarter of 2023. Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s economy chief Marton Nagy said the greatest impediment to growth has been the central bank’s focus on keeping interest rates above the rate of inflation.

The forint gained 0.1% against the euro after the central bank gave its guidance on the path of interest rates. Hungary’s currency has appreciated 3.5% so far this quarter, the best performance among 23 emerging markets after the Russian ruble and the Polish zloty.

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