Poland Holds Interest Rates at 4.5 Percent

Poland's central bank kept its benchmark interest rate at 4.5 percent Wednesday, the ninth consecutive month of no change, as inflation remained high and the nation's economy robust.

The National Bank of Poland also kept the lombard rate unchanged at 6 percent, the deposit rate at 3 percent and the rediscount rate at 4.75 percent.

Inflation was 4.3 percent in 2011, above the central bank's target of 2.5 percent. Poland's economy grew at 4.3 percent in 2011, above the euro zone average, but growth is expected to slow this year. Last year, the central bank raised the interest rate four times from an all-time low of 3.5 percent to 4.5 percent.

Economists polled by Bloomberg all expected the rate to be unchanged.

Unchanged rates seem to be the most probable policy scenario over the next few months,” Jaroslaw Janecki, chief economist at Societe Generale in Warsaw, told Bloomberg.

“The key risk for the Monetary Policy Council is that inflation will stay persistently above target for too long, and that means their rhetoric will probably stay hawkish.”

The Polish zloty was trading at €0.2401, up 0.5 percent, Wednesday morning.