(Adds details from central bank's press release)
By Anna Koper
WARSAW, Feb 8 (Reuters) - The National Bank of Poland
(NBP) left its main interest rate unchanged at 6.75% as expected
on Wednesday, remaining in wait-and-see mode as it assesses the
damage to the economy caused by the war in Ukraine.
With inflation in emerging Europe's largest economy starting
to ease and the economy expected to slow significantly in 2023,
markets' focus has now turned to when the cost of credit will
start to fall.
The central bank reiterated its view that a global economic
slowdown and rate hikes from major central banks will help curb
inflation in Poland.
"Under such circumstances, the hitherto significant monetary
policy tightening by NBP will support a decline in inflation in
Poland towards the NBP inflation target," it said in a
statement, sticking to the wording of previous press releases.
The NBP targets inflation of 2.5%, plus or minus one
percentage point.
"Although the MPC has not formally ended the hike cycle, it
has made it clear many times in recent months that the current
level of interest rates is adequate in its opinion," said Piotr
Bielski, director of the economic analysis department of
Santander Bank Polska.
"The Monetary Policy Council (MPC) will probably wait until
the publication of data from early 2023 and new projections to
make a deeper assessment of the situation."
Analysts polled by Reuters expect interest rates to stay on
hold until the end of 2023. A news conference with central bank
governor Adam Glapinski scheduled for Thursday will be closely
watched for signs of when rates could start to come down.
Other central banks in the region have also ended the
tightening cycles they started in 2021. Romania, whose central
bank hiked the main rate by 25 basis points to 7.00% in January,
is expected to keep borrowing costs stable at its meeting on
Thursday.
(Reporting by Alan Charlish, Anna Koper, Pawel Florkiewicz,
Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Jonathan
Oatis)
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