By Pawel Florkiewicz
WARSAW (Reuters) – A centre-right candidate in Poland’s presidential election on Friday became the second contender in the race to call for lower interest rates, after the central bank had previously pushed back against such comments as an attack on its independence.
Szymon Holownia, speaker of the lower house of parliament and the Third Way candidate in the presidential elections scheduled for May, called on the central bank to cut interest rates in a letter shared on social media on Friday.
This came after frontrunner Rafal Trzaskowski, the candidate of Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s Covic Coalition (KO), called for rate cuts in mid-January, arguing that this would boost growth and provide relief to borrowers.
“I deeply believe that the cut in interest rates is an important impulse for the entire Polish economy, as it can create space for investment, new jobs and increased demand,” wrote Holownia in a letter to the central bank governor published on X.
“I am turning to you… with a request to consider lowering the interest rates of the National Bank of Poland.”
The National Bank of Poland (NBP) has kept interest rates unchanged since October 2023, with the reference rate at 5.75% and central bank governor Adam Glapinski said on February, there were no grounds for lowering borrowing costs at the moment.
Inflation was 5.3% in January, while the central bank’s inflation target is 2.5% plus or minus one percentage point.
The central bank did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but during a conference in January, Glapinski said that rate decisions are made by the entire Monetary Policy Council (MPC) and that the central bank should not be pulled into the election campaign.
High interest rates are one of the factors contributing to the strengthening of the zloty, which on Thursday reached its highest level in 10 years against the euro.
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