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Conference following the November meeting
of the Monetary Policy Council
Date: 06-11-2013
The Monetary Policy Council deems that the NBP interest rates should be maintained at the present level until at least the end of the first half of 2014.
At its meeting held on the 5 and 6 November 2013, the Monetary Policy Council decided to keep policy interest rates unchanged. The reference rate will remain at 2.50% on an annual basis. The press conference following the MPC meeting was attended by Professor Marek Belka, MPC Chairman, and Council members: Professor Jan Winiecki and Dr Andrzej Bratkowski.
One of the questions asked during the conference was whether the MPC’s declaration - contained in the “Press release from the MPC meeting” - to keep interest rates unchanged for a further six months (beyond the 2013 year-end declared so far) had been approved by the entire Council, or only some of the members. Professor Marek Belka confirmed that that MPC had been in agreement on that point.
"The declaration to keep the rates unchanged, even if it’s not, of course, completely unconditional, will have a stabilising effect on the economy, including the zloty exchange rate and the prices of Treasury securities", said NBP president.
He went on to add that there was little risk of the declaration not being delivered on. This can be concluded from, among others, the latest inflation and GDP projection developed by NBP Economic Institute, which the Council had perused. It shows that the coming months are likely to see further gradual improvement in economic conditions, while inflation pressure will remain limited. The projection will be presented at a conference at the NBP head office on Tuesday, 12 November.
NBP President also confirmed his intention to propose, at the time of the next amend-ment to the Act on the NBP, provisions enabling NBP to provide liquidity support not only to banks (as is the case at the moment), but also to other financial institutions such as insurance companies or Open Pension Funds. Many other central banks enjoy such a right, to the benefit of the stability of the financial sector. Professor Belka also reiterated that without changes to the current Open Pension Fund System, the state budget would find itself in a very tight corner next year.