RPP meeting begins today with analysts predicting 1% to 1.5% rate cut

Analysts are predicting that the Monetary Policy Council (RPP) will cut interest rates by between 1% and 1.5% during its two-day meeting that gets under way today. In total the RPP reduced interest rates by 7.5% in 2001, in a series of cuts none of which was greater than 1.5%. The analysts point out, however, that any such decrease will have little effect on the market, since it has already been assimilated. "No one really knows what kind of reduction the economy needs. We know only that economic activity and inflation have been lower than forecast during the last two months, which justifies a further reduction," said Maciej Reluga, economist at ING Bank Slaski. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B1; Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 16) P.W.