| Conference after the meeting of the Monetary Policy Council
Global economic activity is slackening which may slow down economic growth in Poland, leading, in turn, to a shift in the balance of inflationary risks. At its meetings held on 6-7 September 2011, the Monetary Policy Council took a decision to keep the NBP interest rates unchanged. The reference rate still stands at 4.5% on an annual basis. In the communication justifying its decision, the Monetary Policy Council said, among other things: “In the Council’s opinion, considerable tightening of the fiscal policy implemented since the beginning of 2011, should enable inflation to return to the target in the medium term. Therefore, the Council decided to keep the NBP interest rates unchanged. The Council does not rule out the possibility of further adjustments of monetary policy should the prospects of inflation returning to the target deteriorate”. While answering the questions at the press conference held after the Council’s meeting, the NBP President Marek Belka said that the balance of inflationary risks in the past few weeks had shifted. There had been new signs of a deterioration in the global economy which might weaken economic growth in Poland. May it be a sign of inflation returning sooner to the target set by the NBP? – asked journalists? According to Professor Marek Belka the answer to this question will be possible only after the next projection of inflation and GDP is published by the NBP at the beginning of November. Our intuition says that such a scenario is a likely development, yet, we may imagine economic slowdown being accompanied by disturbances supporting persistently heightened inflation - explained Professor Belka. Journalists also inquired about the impact of persistently high exchange rate of the Swiss frank on the economy and asked whether the Monetary Policy Council had not considered changing the NBP interest rates in order to strengthen the Polish zloty. President of the NBP reminded that the decline in general consumption in the economy driven by higher loan installments paid by persons having foreign currency loans was minimal and should not affect the economy. The Council had not considered the scenario of zloty appreciation in its interest rate decisions as amidst the turmoil in the financial markets such a move would have been unnecessary and ineffective.  Press release from the meeting of the Monetary Policy Council held on 6-7 September 2011
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