STOCKHOLM, July 2 (Reuters) - Iceland's central bank said on Thursday removing capital controls would be one element in determining the island's monetary policy.

'The abolition of capital controls will be one of many elements in steering future decisions on the policy rate,' central bank Governor Svein Harald Oygard said in a webcast briefing.

He said the central bank main interim objective was stabilising and strengthening the crown, adding that it was also observing inflation trends and the economic recovery.

He declined to say whether policy easing was in store: 'We do hope that would be possible given that our inflation numbers show a very rapid disinflation process,' he said.

The Sedlabanki earlier on Thursday left its key policy rate unchanged at 12 percent, pausing after a string of reductions in recent months. Keywords: ICELAND RATES/

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