By Boldizsar Gyori

BUDAPEST, April 23 (Reuters) -Hungary's forint traded flaton Tuesday ahead of a rate-setter meeting in the afternoon where analysts expect the National Bank of Hungary (NBH) to slow down the pace of monetaryeasing, while the zloty and crown edged lower.

Hungary's central bank is expected to slow the pace of rate cuts to 50 basis points, lowering its base rate to 7.75% amid concern that inflation could rebound, particularly given recent currency weakness.

The National Bank of Hungary (NBH), which has slashed borrowing costs by 975 bps over the past year, has said that monetary policy would enter a new phase, with the pace of rate cuts slowing in the second quarter.

"This marks a slowdown in the pace of rate cuts compared to the two prior adjustments of 100bp and then 75bp," ING said in a note.

"Given a challenging external environment, any hints of larger or deeper rate cuts are probably a forint negative."

The forint EURHUF= traded at 394.5to the euro at 0730GMT.

The Polish zloty EURPLN= eased 0.1% to 4.32 per euro, remaining on the weaker side of the 4.30 psychological level for more than a week.

"The zloty is trying to return to levels around 4.30," Bank Millennium analysts wrote, adding that it would stay influenced by mainly by external factors, including economic growth and inflation data from the U.S. at the end of the week.

"We still notice increased volatility of the Polish zloty - compared to the first quarter - as a characteristic feature of the coming days and perhaps even weeks."

Markets will be closely eyeing a March retail sales reading, which is expected to rise further on the back of wage hikes and Easter spending. A March industrial output reading on Monday with significant downside surprise stoked concerns about the scale of Poland's expected economic rebound in 2024.

"We expect the domestic retail sales data to be much better than the information from industry and construction published yesterday," PKO BP analysts wrote.

The crown EURCZK= traded at 25.3.

Reporting by Boldizsar Gyori in Budapest and Karohal Badohal in Warsaw, editing by Ed Osmond

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