Central Bank easing off

Analysts had this to say on the subject:

Marcin Mróz, chief economist at SG bank in Warsaw:

"Nobody expected the Council to make any other decision than to leave rates unchanged after the growth data.

"There is a question mark over the easing bias - whether it remained intact because the Council really sees a bigger probability of rate cuts than hikes or whether it was left unchanged because it will be scrapped soon anyway."

Gillan Edgeworth, economist at Deutsche Bank in London:

"This may have been a tough decision for the central bank, given how long it took them to publish it today. I think they maintained the easing bias because they do not want to rush into a turnaround in policy the way they did previously.

"Plus they are abandoning the bias at the end of the year anyway, so for sure they want to put less emphasis on it.

"But I think with the GDP number we had [earlier], it should be safe to say that this is the end of the easing cycle. This is not an economy operating anywhere near capacity.

"I remain unconcerned by inflation, all signs are that it is still contained. Productivity growth is still well above wage growth and that bodes well."

Ryszard Petru, chief economist at Bank BPH in Warsaw:

"It seems that [the Council] was positively surprised by the recent figures, especially yesterday's GDP data, suggesting a modest recovery. [The Council] probably also took into account fiscal uncertainty related to 2006 revenue projections." (Reuters)