PRAGUE (AP) — The Czech Republic’s central bank on Thursday cut its key interest rate for the fourth straight time as inflation dropped and the economy showed signs of recovery.

The cut by a half-percentage point brought the interest rate down to 5.25%. The move was expected by analysts.

The bank started to trim borrowing costs by a quarter-point on Dec. 21, which marked the first cut since June 22, 2022. It continued with a cut by a half-percentage point on Feb. 8 and went on by another half-percentage cut on March 20.

Inflation declined to 10.7% in 2023 from 15.1% in 2022, according to the Czech Statistics Office, and dropped to 2.0% year-on-year in February, which equals the bank’s target, and remained unchanged at the same level in March.

The Czech economy was up by 0.4% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024, and increased by 0.5% compared with the last three months of the previous year, the preliminary figures released by Statistics Office indicated on Tuesday.