Report: Polish National Bank president Adam Glapiński’s concerns about the general state of the Polish economy

  Mr. Glapiński first addressed the issue of a Polish cryptocurrency (like Bitcoin), stating that “introducing [it] makes no sense… cryptocurrencies only bring anxiety and provide room for speculation, and [Poland] will become infected by it like other European countries.” He also added that a digital currency would cause problems due to its possible inaccessibility to tax and anti-criminal services. The president also commented on his uncertainty about the benefits or pitfalls of a stronger or weaker zloty. While acknowledging that a weaker zloty would help the economy, he also mentioned that the slightly stronger currency would help significantly with exports, an important factor in the growth of a national economy, so a marginally more valuable currency “would not hurt us.” He was optimistic about the state of “Poland’s good economy,” predicting that it would stay at a high level throughout 2018 and not move into a lower economic phase until next year. His reasoning was based on “observers in the Ministry of the Interior, the World Bank, and the European Central Bank” seeing no weakness in the Polish economy. There were a number of negative issues to mention, however. A large concern was raised over the lack of domestic housing and its importance in keeping young Poles from emigrating. Besides this, most of his concerns were about foreign issues, fearing potential problems such as the Chinese economy, crisis in the Eurozone, or a sudden collapse of the global economy. Glapiński also criticized the EU, saying that “Poland receives less and less as the EU demands more and more,” but noted that this would only become a big issue if it were to continue this way until 2021.