RPP faces criticism for ignoring economic slowdown and unemployment

The opposition Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), the party widely expected to win next month's general election, has criticized the central bank for turning a blind eye to the slowing economy and mounting unemployment in its ambitious anti-inflation drive. The SLD has said that once in power, it would seek to change laws to give the cabinet a voice in setting inflation targets, now solely decided by the central bank's 10-member Monetary Policy Council (RPP). "The discussion should not be about current monetary policy, but about the RPP's core medium-term goal. Our goal is also to lower inflation, but we must ask at what pace," senior SLD official Marek Borowski told an economic seminar in Warsaw. Borowski said that an inflation level of 6% to 7% year-on-year was natural for a country like Poland, whose economy is catching up with its western European peers. The RPP's main operational goal is to lower inflation, at 6.2% in June, to below 4% by 2003. "Monetary policy radically misses the main point of economic policy. We must coordinate the correct goals of lowering inflation, keeping growth on track and, most important, fighting unemployment," Borowski said. (Reuters)