Getting it right, is the zloty to strong for the good of the economy?

The zloty is too strong, but arbitrary administrative manipulation over the exchange rate will not be good for the economy in the long run, argued economic analysts in response to minister Marek Belka's proposal for the central bank to intervene to weaken the zloty. In their opinion, the current account balance and lower foreign investment do not justify the current high exchange rate; the latter results mainly from the large budget deficit and the fact that the government has issued large quantities of bonds. Yesterday Belka restated his opinion, saying that " The strength of the zloty is costing us too much. Besides, we don't know to what extent intervention would be ineffective, as so far we have never tried such a move" . Mea nwhile, as a reaction to the debate, the zloty weakened yesterday by four grosze against the dollar and by almost three grosze against the euro. (Prawo i Gospodarka, pp. 1, 3) M.K.