POLAND: C.Bank Raises Benchmark...By 25 Basis Pts...To 4.25%.

BLOOMBERG/

    Another inflation warning from Eastern Europe...as Poland's central bank...unexpectedly...raised its 7-day interest rate...to 4.25%...for the 3rd time in 2011.
   For the sixth month... inflation there reached a 2 1/2 year high...hitting 4.3 % in March...well above the c.bank’s 2.5 % target. .
    The zloty popped to its highest level in more than three months...3.9009 vs the euro.

POLAND: C.Bank To Strengthen Zloty By Selling Euros.

WSJ /

   Poland has announced a plan to convert euros to zlotys...in the open market.
  Authorities there hope that a stronger currency might tighten monetary policy.
  They feared that a relatively weak zloty would raise inflation while they believe the zloty is still cheap.

POLAND: Old Zloty To Disappear Forever On New Year's Day.

WSJ/ Malgorzata Halaba /

     Issued in 1993, a 2,000,000 million Polish banknote was the last in a series to deal with Poland’s hyperinflation. It is now worth $67 but becomes worthless on 01 January.
     "On January 1, 1995, the Polish zloty got a new official code, PLN (the “N” stands for new) instead of PLZ, and dropped four zeros. Unlike many other denominations and currency switches, both currencies were allowed in circulation for a full two years, until the end of 1996."

POLAND: 07 Dec UPDATE: Central Banker Belka Now Says "No Rush" To Adopt Euro.

BLOOMBERG/
   Considering the recent ups and down of the euro, you can't blame central bank Governor Marek Belka ( pictured) for delaying adoption until the EU can support a stable currency.
     Belka is quoted saying:“The European Monetary Union is an ambitious but unfinished project. Political ambition wasn’t matched by the capacity and willingness to adjust economic institutions to fit,” which is the issue “that puts the euro’s future in doubt, and for us poses an enormous dilemma about what to do.”
     Poland dropped entering the euro area in 2012 after revenues slumped from the global economic slowdown. It joined the EU in 2004 and must eventually adopt the euro as part of its accession agreement.

 07/ 12 NYTIMES UPDATE on the floating Zloty :  Why being outside eurozone is working to Poland’s economic advantage.
  The zloty has fallen about 18 percent against the euro since early 2009 but it keeps Polish products competitive and insulated from the effects of the sovereign debt crisis.
 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/business/global/07zloty.html?ref=todayspaper

Polish Stocks Plummet And Zloty Swoons After S&P's Banks Warning.

BLOOMBERG.COM.
Polish stocks fell the most among the world’s equity markets and the zloty slid to the lowest level in a week against the euro after Standard & Poor’s said the country’s banks face rising credit risks.
Credit risk is growing in Poland after more households and businesses fail to repay debt and foreign-currency borrowing increased, S&P said today.

In Poland, Lodz Thrives.

NYTIMES.
"With multinationals like Procter & Gamble, Dell and ABB leading a wave of foreign investment, cities like Lodz, in central Poland, are experiencing relative booms. Poles who left the country in search of work years ago are trickling back. Poland has also done better than its neighbors because its economy is far less dependent on exports than other Central European countries, where exports can approach 90 percent of the gross domestic product."

Poland's Strengthening Zloty Attracts Investors.

From Bloomberg.

A recent rally has made Poland's zloty July’s best performer with a 6 percent gain against the euro among 26 emerging-market currencies.