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Polish rate cuts possible in Q2 2025: central bank chief

03.10.2024 20:00
Poland’s interest rates are likely to fall in the second quarter of next year if inflation is kept under control, the country’s central bank chief said on Thursday.
Polish central bank chief Adam Glapiński.
Polish central bank chief Adam Glapiński.Photo: PAP/Paweł Supernak

Adam Glapiński, head of the National Bank of Poland (NBP), was speaking after the Polish central bank's rate-setting Monetary Policy Council left interest rates intact a day earlier.

Glapiński reaffirmed his earlier prediction that Polish interest rates were likely to stay put until the end of this year amid market uncertainty, state news agency PAP reported.

He said at a news conference in Warsaw that the Monetary Policy Council could start discussing possible rate cuts after the central bank publishes its March inflation forecast.

He added that if data in March show inflation has stabilised and is expected to remain steady in the following quarters, the Monetary Policy Council will begin a cycle of interest rate cuts.

"At the moment, it seems that we could cut rates after March, which means in the second quarter of 2025," he told the media.

Last month, Glapiński told reporters that most members of the rate-setting panel "have been talking off the record, or even directly in the media, about the middle of the year" as a potential date for the first rate cut since late last year.

The Monetary Policy Council left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, keeping the reference rate at 5.75 percent.

The panel earlier slashed key interest rates by a combined 100 basis points, amid signs of subsiding inflation.

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

Inflation in Poland stood at 4.9 percent last month, up from 4.3 percent in August, according to a flash estimate by the country’s statistics office.

(gs)

Source: IAR, PAP