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Poland keeps interest rates intact

04.04.2024 21:30
The Polish central bank's rate-setting Monetary Policy Council left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, keeping the reference rate at 5.75 percent.
The Warsaw headquarters of the National Bank of Poland (NBP).
The Warsaw headquarters of the National Bank of Poland (NBP).Photo: PAP/Tomasz Gzell

Last year, the panel slashed key interest rates by a combined 100 basis points, amid signs of subsiding inflation.

In 2021 and 2022, the Monetary Policy Council had delivered a string of rate hikes in an effort to contain surging consumer prices.

Inflation in Poland stood at 1.9 percent in March, down from 2.8 percent in February, according to a flash estimate by the country’s statistics office.

Poland’s central bank chief, Adam Glapiński, said in November that the country's interest rates were unlikely to rise anytime soon.

He told reporters at the time that if Polish interest rates were to change, they would be more likely to go down than up, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.

"I cannot imagine the rates being hiked now," Glapiński stated at a news conference in Warsaw on November 9.

The Polish central bank said in its latest Inflation Report, released on March 11, that inflation would average at 3 percent this year, followed by 3.4 percent in 2025 and 2.9 percent in 2026.

(gs)

Source: IAR, PAP