Finance Minister hints at interest rate drop, NBP president to hold the course

"Year-on-year inflation will be higher than the expected 9.1%. This will influence the objectives of next year's budget. I expect that interest rates will drop over the next few months," said Finance Minister Jaroslaw Bauc at the Economic Forum of Central and Eastern European countries in Krynica. "Money supply must first be under control, the government must propose strict fiscal policy for next year and inflation must drop in order to expect interest rates to be reduced. I assure you that reaching single digit inflation can be gained by just doing nothing," said National Bank of Poland (NBP) president Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz. (Rzeczpospolita, Sept. 2-3, page B1)