RPP unlikely to change interest rates at its meeting today
The Monetary Policy Council (RPP) is likely to maintain interest rates unchanged at the today's meeting at 19%-23%, but it is possible that RPP will shift its policy bias to neutral, a symbolic change announcing the trend for future policy decisions. There is mounting pressure on RPP to cut borrowing costs and prop up the decelerating economy. According to Jerzy Kropiwnicki, head of the Government Center for Strategic Studies (RCSS), current real interest rates are too high. Kropiwnicki said such a situation should not last any longer, especially as price impulses are not caused by wage growth. He warned that high interest rates would slow the growth of GDP, curbing the annual growth rate to 4.5%-5.0% for the total 2000, from 5.6% for the January-June period. Similarly, members of the IMF mission said last week that Poland should immediately start considering a cut in the nominal rate level. Today's RPP meeting will be the last one headed by the outgoing well-respected NBP governor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, who is to take a top position at EBRD in London in January.Źródło:IntelliNews Daily
