Weekly FX Commentary

This week was relatively calm, with the złoty gaining in value. The long-term trend of the złoty was supported by rumors concerning the possibility of S&P raising its rating for the Polish foreign debt. Additionally, the unemployment rate fell from 19.3% to 19%. On Wednesday the market was focused on macroeconomic data concerning GDP growth. The released figure was slightly better than expected, at 6%. However, this fact didn't cause any serious market movement. The złoty also gained thanks to a statement made by the Central Bank which declared that it will continue tightening monetary policy to bring down the inflation rate in 2005 to 2.5-3%. This week analysts will be eagerly awaiting the release of the latest inflation and industrial production data, which lately turned out to be much worse than expected and amounted to 6% year-on-year. Despite macroeconomic figures which are supposed to be released next week we expect it to be a calm period. Marek Zuber www.tms.pl