Poland
The Polish conflict
Stanislaw Gomulka surveys the institutional causes and economic consequences of the bitter dispute between the government and central bank in Poland. The inexperience of both suggests a European solution.
Polish e-signature centre may break EU law
POLAND - The privileged position of Centrast accreditation centre and the high fees that the subsidiary of the central bank plans to charge may be against the rules set forth in an EU directive on the e-signature, released in 1999.
Poland moves closer to the euro
POLAND - The National Bank of Poland (NBP) and Finance Ministry officials have begun to prepare a long-term strategy on adopting the euro, a senior central bank official has said.
Floating rates are good for Zloty says Balcerowicz
POLAND - "We won't have fast economic growth if we don't heal public finances," said Leszek Balcerowicz, governor of Poland's central bank, in a speech before parliament on Tuesday.
Poland's c bank wants talks with finance minister
POLAND - The National Bank of Poland (NBP) has declared it wants dialogue with the finance minister following the 16 July presentation of his strategy, NBP president Leszek Balcerowicz has said.
Polish c bank's new duties may be unconstitutional
POLAND - The Constitutional Tribunal is likely to judge the planned amendments to the legislation regulating the duties of Poland's central bank unconstitutional, claims Mieczyslaw Czarniawski, head of the parliamentary Public Finance Committee.
Poland's central bank chief 'in the line of fire'
POLAND - The Polish owner of a shooting range has found himself in trouble over images of the central bank governor's face which have been used as targets.
Speech by W. McDonough, New York Fed Bank, 2 Jul
SPEECH - In a speech titled 'The importance of central bank independence in achieving price stability' McDonough extolled the virtues of central bank independence and reiterated the importance of maintaining price stability for an economy.
Radicals want Polish central bank chief dismissed
POLAND - The Self-defence farmers' trade union (Samoobrona) radical farmers' union filed a draft resolution with the Sejm (lower house of parliament) on Wednesday for a dismissal of central bank head Leszek Balcerowicz.
Fed's McDonough - Price stability has many virtues
POLAND - In a speech extolling the virtues of central bank independence, Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William McDonough reiterated the importance of maintaining price stability for an economy.
Polish central bank head denies resignation rumour
POLAND - Central bank president Leszek Balcerowicz denied rumours on Friday that he wanted to resign as the Polish National Bank (NBP) president and the Monetary Policy Council (RPP) head.
Vision not aggression says Polish c bank chief
POLAND - "There is no conflict between the Polish central bank and the government when it comes to real economic issues. What we see is the government's aggression against an independent state institution, something unheard of in the civilized world. In…
Effort made to bring Poland closer to eurozone
POLAND - The Finance Ministry and the Central Bank (NBP) have set up a joint group on the strategy of bringing the Polish economy closer to the Eurozone, which will discuss issues related to the zloty exchange rate strategy in the period of entering the…
Independent NBP will consider weaker zloty
POLAND - President Aleksander Kwasniewski, who last week agreed to become a mediator between the government and the Monetary Policy Council (RPP), after meeting the latter on Tuesday, has confirmed his dedication to the independence of Poland's central…
No threat to cb independence says Polish president
POLAND - Alexander Kwansniewski, the president of Poland, in suporting anammendment to bring the bank act in to line with EU standards, offeredreasurrance over the National Bank's independence: "I cannot see any threats to the independence of the central…
Polish governor's bodyguards removed
ARTICLE - The relationship between the government and central bank in Poland continues to deteriorate. A full apology from the government is in order over the latest episode, argues an editorial in the Warsaw Business Journal.
Polish central bank sees independence under threat
POLAND - Poland's government threw down the gauntlet in its fight with the central bank yesterday by backing legislation that, if signed into law, would compromise its independence.
Polish gov't calls for exchange rate discussion
POLAND - Following a government session on Tuesday, finance minister Marek Belka called the central bank's Monetary Policy Council (RPP) to discuss potential proposals aimed at abandoning the policy of no-intervention on the foreign exchange market, and…
Polish central bank head ready for gov't dialogue
POLAND - Polish National Bank (NBP) President Leszek Balcerowicz declared on Thursday he was ready for dialogue with the finance minister but believed that structural reforms and securing higher competitiveness were more important than discussions on the…
Polish cen bank dep chairman favours fixed ex rate
POLAND - Central bank deputy chairman Andrzej Bratkowski said the economy could benefit from a fixed zloty rate in a situation when the inflow of foreign capital linked with the prospect of Poland's EU accession will continue to strengthen the zloty.
Poland's c bank under fire for strong zloty
POLAND - The central bank received more criticism yesterday when the Finance Minister Marek Belka said that it should take action to weaken the zloty.
Poland's c bank boosts reserves by $165m in April
POLAND - The announcement made by the National Bank of Poland (NBP), that it will boost reserves by $165m, signifies that Poland's reserve assets on the last day of April accounted for $27,224bn and were $660m higher than on 31 December 2001.
Polish rate cut too shallow - Fin Min
POLAND - The National Bank of Poland's (NBP) rate cuts on Thursday confirmed the bank's support for the leftist government's economic programme, but Finance Minister Marek Belka hoped for deeper cuts, his spokesman said.
Poland may be some way off euro entry
POLAND - Poland will not join the European monetary union earlier than in 2007, believes Krzysztof Jakubiszyn, advisor to the chief of the central bank.