Banking sentiment index falls to a seven-year low in January
The banking business sentiment index Pengab fell 3 points from December, to a seven-year low of 30.7 points in January, according to the private polling agency Pentor. The nearly 200 bankers who were polled said they were concerned about the country's future economic situation, worrying about high inflation, rising unemployment, high interest rates, which discourage customers form taking credits, as well as a low rate of growth in real income and uncertain future economic growth rate. The bankers forecast annual inflation at 8.6% y/y at the end of this year, or slightly up from the 8.5% reported for December 2000. They also expected the zloty to fall to PLN/USD 4.39 and PLN/EUR 4.09 at the end of this year, compared to the current PLN/USD 4.1 and PLN/EUR 3.85. In general, however, the bankers expected this year's climate in banking industry to be slightly better than in 2000.
Źródło:IntelliNews Daily
