Pengab banking climate index drops to lowest point since 1993 inception

Poland's Pengab banking climate index fell by 6.6% in December to 11.5, an all-time low since its launch in 1993. The index, designed to paint an overall picture of how bankers view the financial sector's situation, dropped strongly because of large cash withdrawals from bank accounts to investment funds by people seeking ways to avoid a new 20% tax on savings income. The Pengab index is counted as a percentage point difference between positive and negative answers from a monthly poll of 201 bank managers commissioned by the Polish Banking Association (ZBP). "Assessments of the situation on the deposit market worsened virtually across the board," said Eugeniusz Smilowski, director of Pentor, the institute which carried out the survey. "In the loans business the only area not to fall was zloty lending to private customers." (Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 1; Rzeczpospolita, p. B5; Reuters) A.K.