At the last meeting led by President Marek Belka, Poland’s central bank left unchanged for the 15th month in tune with market expectations. Current MPC member Glapinski will replace Belka as NBP Governor next week. And as put forth in the statement by new MPC members, who took part in the press conference, NBP policy is unlikely to change in the months to come.
“As a conservative, Glapinski shouldn’t have problems with keeping the same course,” Belka said in an interview last week. “The question is how the economic reality will change. For the time being though, I see no reasons for the MPC to do any flip-flop.” he added.
The zloty traded 0.1 percent stronger at 4.3466 against the euro after the rate decision. The Polish currency is the second-worst performer this year among its peers in developing Europe.
Belka pointed out that the negative inflation rate was accompanied by an all-time low unemployment rate and record-breaking real wage growth and therefore interest rate stability is preferred in this macroeconomic situation. The NBP President again highlighted the temporary threat of the UK Brexit referendum.
Data released earlier on Thursday showed that the Czech headline year-on-year inflation surprisingly slipped in May as consumer price index dropped due to lower beer and natural gas prices. Consumer prices in May decreased compared with April by 0.2 percent.
