Gov't plans to deposit state funds with commercial banks instead of with NBP

The Finance Ministry is considering depositing the funds in commercial banks from next year, as a means of managing its liquidity, said Piotr Marczak, deputy head of the Ministry's Public Debt Department. "This idea has been under consideration for a long time, but the situation was not favorable," said Marczak. He explained that in a situation of high excess liquidity in the banking sector, which Poland was experiencing until recently, depositing money outside the central bank was pointless, as the banks would have no choice but to keep it, in turn, with the National Bank of Poland (NBP). Hence the market rate of interest would be lower than that offered by the central bank. However, now the Ministry sees the possibility of obtaining a higher return from commercial banks. At first, the banks would be chosen from those with the status of primary dealers of Treasury securities. The Ministry has been investing money on term deposits with the NBP since 1995, last month the central bank held zl.12.3 billion in state deposits. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 20) T.J.