NBP MPC Press Release - 2014-02-05
Central bank: nbp | Type: decision | Date: 2014-02-05

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Warsaw, 5 February 2014 
 
Information from the meeting of the Monetary Policy 
Council held on 4-5 February 2014 
 
The Council decided to keep the NBP interest rates unchanged: 
 reference rate at 2.50% on an annual basis; 
 lombard rate at 4.00% on an annual basis; 
 deposit rate at 1.00% on an annual basis; 
 bill rediscount rate at 2.75% on an annual basis. 
 
Growth in global economic activity remains moderate, although the situation varies 
across countries. In the United States, economic conditions have improved, which has 
prompted the Federal Reserve to reduce the scale of quantitative easing. At the same 
time, the euro area has been experiencing a slow, yet somewhat limited recovery . 
Against this background, the Europ ean Central Bank continues its highly 
accommodative monetary policy. In turn, activity growth in the largest emerging 
economies – despite some improvement – continues to be weak in comparison with their 
previous performance . Moderate growth in global economic activity is conducive to 
maintaining low inflation in many countries. 
The reduction of asset purchases by the Federal Reserve has had an adverse effect on 
the sentiment in the international financial markets, in particul ar with regard to some 
emerging market economies. 
Data on domestic economic activity indicate a continuation of the gradual recovery in 
Poland. Preliminary 2013 GDP figures show that economic growth in 2013 Q4 exceeded 
that seen in 2013 Q3, with net exports still contributing substantially to GDP growth. The 
gradual economic revival is also confirmed by data on industrial output and retail sales, 
and levelling off the decline in construction and assembly output. Activity growth in the 
subsequent quarters is signalled by business climate indicators. 
The gradual recovery is contributing to an improvement in labour market conditions. 
Signs of employment growth have been observed, which should be conducive to a 
decrease in unemployment. Yet, unemployment persists at elevated levels, which is 
hampering wage pressure in the economy. 
CPI inflation amounted to 0.7% in December 2013, thus remaining markedly below 
the NBP inflation target of 2.5%. Also core inflation measures remained low, which 
confirms that demand pressure continues to be weak. In turn, weak cost pressure in the 
economy is manifested in a further decline in producer prices. This is accompanied by 
low inflation expectations. 
 
 
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In the recent period, l ending to the private sector ha s accelerated slightly while 
remaining limited. In December 2013, the annual growth in lending to enterprises and 
households was still low. At the same time, since mid -2013, there has been a gradual 
acceleration in consumer loans. 
In the opinion of the Council, gradual economi c recovery is likely to continue in the 
coming quarters, however, inflationary pressures will remain subdued. Therefore, the 
Council decided to keep NBP interest rates unchanged. The Council maintains its 
assessment that NBP interest rates should be kept unchanged at least until the end of the 
first half of 2014. 
In the opinion of the Council, lowering interest rates in the first half of 2013 and 
keeping them unchanged in subsequent quarters supports recovery of the domestic 
economy, gradual return of infla tion to the target and stabilisation in the financial 
markets.