Poland Delivers ‘Bazooka’ Cut to Boost Economy Ahead of Vote
- Rate cut to 6% was bigger than forecast by most economists
- The first cut in three years comes during intense campaigning
The Polish national bank headquarters in Warsaw, Poland.
Photographer: Damian Lemański/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Poland’s central bank delivered a surprisingly steep interest rate cut in a bid to boost a slowing economy less than six weeks before a tightly-contested election, weakening the zloty and hammering banking stocks.
The decision to lower the benchmark rate by three quarters of a percentage point — the most since the fallout from the great financial crisis in 2009 — to 6% caught economists off guard. Most had predicted a quarter point reduction.