Speaking at a conference in Warsaw on Tuesday, Adam Glapiński said he had asked the bank's board to approve the purchase.
Glapiński also told the Congress 590 conference, a two-day forum on Poland’s economic development, that, thanks to his central bank’s “unconventional” policies, the pandemic "has had a relatively small impact" on the Polish economy.
With interest rates cut swiftly and the government unveiling various support packages, unemployment has been kept low, he told an audience of politicians, experts and businesspeople gathered at the conference.
He added that “neither companies nor individuals went bankrupt" during the worst of the coronavirus crisis in Poland and "the solvency of loan takers remained virtually unchanged.”
Glapiński also revealed the Polish central bank would continue to "diversify its investment risk" by buying more gold, the IAR news agency reported.
“I have recently asked the board to approve the purchase of a further 100 tonnes of gold, and I would like gold to constitute 10 percent of our foreign-exchange reserves," Glapiński said.
He told the gathering that these reserves have surpassed EUR 140 billion and continued to rise, making Poland “as financially credible as can be,” the state PAP news agency reported.
The NBP has also enjoyed investment success, Glapiński added, providing PLN 32 billion (EUR 6.95 billion) of profit to the public purse between 2016 and 2020.
“This is a sizable sum indeed, which had a palpable impact when used to finance social benefits, for example,” Glapiński also said, as quoted by PAP.
Looking ahead, he stated that, as the economy gathers speed, “the time is coming for a monetary adjustment, including an interest rate hike,” yet “this shouldn’t overshadow the larger picture of challenges facing our economy, as it seeks long-term success,” the IAR news agency reported.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP