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By Bloomberg

As policy makers, academics and investors debate whether the world economy can return to its pre-crisis shape, the community of central bankers is yearning to ditch unconventional tools and return to the standard monetary routine, even if they are unable to do so for now, Czech National Bank Deputy Governor Mojmir Hampl said.

"The majority of central bankers would very much like to return to simply adjusting interest rates." Hampl said in an interview in Prague. "I'd really like to see central banking as a 'boring' activity again, rather sooner than later. I'm in the group of central bankers who believe that the desired state of affairs is when nobody discusses monetary policy in pubs."

Policy makers from the U.S. Federal Reserve to the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank have sought new ways to battle the crisis after cutting interest rates to record lows failed to reignite growth. They boosted their balance sheets with asset purchases, injected fresh money the into the financial system and embraced weaker currencies. Monetary authorities continue to come up with creative tools as some major economies still experience anemic growth and below-target inflation.

ECB President Mario Draghi last week fleshed out details of a plan to buy covered bonds and asset-backed securities, intended to increase credit and liquidity in the euro area that's is struggling to sustain its recovery amid rising political tension with Russia over the Ukrainian conflict.

'Boring' King

Hampl's perception of the central banker's ideal world echoes the words of former Bank of England Governor Mervyn King, who spoke about his ambition to run a "boring" institution 14 years ago.

"A reputation for being boring is an advantage -- credibility of the policy framework helps to dampen the movement of the see-saw," King said in an April 2000 speech.

For all the new tools introduced since then, there are some signs that policy measures such as central-bank stimulus may be ineffective in delivering high growth, robust job creation, price stability and financial soundness all at the same time, Mohamed A. El-Erian, an economic adviser to Allianz SE, wrote in his review of "Secular Stagnation: Facts, Causes and Cures" published by the Centre for Economic Policy Research.

The e-book, in which economists including Larry Summers and Paul Krugman contemplate why only few advanced economies have returned to pre-crisis growth rates despite years of near-zero interest rates, raises the specter of Europe and the U.S. enduring Japan-like lost decades.

Hampl's 'Desire'

For Hampl, a 39-year-old economist who's represented the Czech Republic on the European Union's Economic and Financial Committee since 2008, when the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. sparked the global financial crisis, the return to conventional policies is only a question of time.

"I don't want to believe in a scenario that the world has changed for good, that it will never be repaired and the central banks will stay in limelight forever," Hampl said. "I'm part of this community, and the desire of this community is to go back to standard monetary policy. Whether this moment is anywhere close, that's probably the biggest question."

Hampl is working at a central bank that's forged ahead with non-standard measures after its traditional tools ran out of room. Czech policy makers cut their benchmark interest rate to what they call a "technical zero" of 0.05 percent in 2012.

Koruna Cap

In November, the monetary authority weakened the koruna with market interventions and set a Swiss-style cap on its gains to ease monetary conditions. It has pledged to keep the koruna lid at least until 2016.

While the move sparked a backlash from politicians and media, central bankers in Prague say it helped avert deflation and fuel recovery from a record-long recession.

Hampl, whose duties include attending meetings of EU finance ministers and Bank for International Settlements events, also rejected ideas to replace inflation targeting with different policy anchors, such as nominal GDP.

"To stabilize monetary conditions in a given country, you need a target which is understandable," he said. "Economic agents must understand what you're doing, and inflation targeting does the trick perfectly.