WARSAW (Thomson Financial) – Poland’s finance ministry expects the zloty to continue to appreciate steadily on the back of inflows of EU funds and money sent home by Poles working abroad, Finance Minister Zyta Gilowska said today.
‘The ministry for a long time has assumed a gradual appreciation of the zloty,’ she told a briefing in Warsaw.
‘Poland is receiving funds from the European Union and Poles working abroad are also sending money to their families at home. We estimate that this capital reached 5 bln eur last year and most of that money was spent on buying homes here.’
She also moved to play down concerns over a jump in headline annual inflation in September, which bolstered market expectations of a further rise in Polish interest rates this year.
The impact of a rise in food prices in recent months, highlighted by the ministry as behind September’s jump, was likely to prove temporary, she said.
‘We know about the problems that the Baltic Republics had with inflation, Poland doesn’t have such problems,’ she said. ‘Higher food prices in our opinion will have a temporary impact (on inflation).’
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