The zloty weakens, giving exporters a reason to smile

The current weakening of the zloty is not really due to internal factors, as the economy is developing, inflation is low and the current-account deficit is not inflated, but it is rather due to "external factors, such as increasing risk aversion from investors and growing interest rates all over the world," explained Piotr Bielski, an economist at Bank Handlowy. As a result, investors are moving capital from the CEE region to developed economies, which is further complicated by the difficult political situation in the region. Economists disagree over how long the zloty will remain weak, but they claim it will last for the next two to three months, after which it should return to the previous level of zl.3.80-3.90. "If exporters have the possibility, they should contract transactions which they planned [to carry out] later. This [would give them] a few percent on the plus side," said Piotr Kalisz, another economist at Bank Handlowy. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 10) M.M.