WARSAW (Reuters) -The National Bank of Poland left its main interest rate unchanged at 6.75% on Wednesday, extending a pause in monetary tightening as the largest economy in the European Union’s eastern wing braces for an economic slowdown.
All the bank’s other interest rates were also left unchanged.
Central European policymakers are seeking to end a cycle of interest rate hikes running since last year despite soaring inflation, and economists had been split on whether the central bank would move again or stay put on rates.
Of 21 analysts polled by Reuters, 11 expected the main rate to rise by 25 basis points. Eight expected no change and two predicted a 50-basis-point hike.
The bank will publish a statement at 1745 GMT containing its latest economic forecasts, which Governor Adam Glapinski said would be key to Wednesday’s decision on rates.
Deputy governor Marta Kightley said in a recent interview that the bank’s November growth projections would be lower than in the last set of forecasts.
On Tuesday, the Romanian central bank slowed the pace of its tightening, raising its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points.
(Reporting by Alan Charlish, Anna Koper, Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, Pawel Florkiewicz, Marek StrzekeckiEditing by Tomasz Janowski)
