Last year’s loss of 20.8 billion zlotys is higher than the previous year’s 16.9 billion, the central bank announced in its financial report on Wednesday, referring primarily to the effect of the strong zloty. The statement issued by the central bank later on Wednesday revealed that the negative result from the exchange rate loss was 31.0 billion zlotys within its 2023 result, reports Reuters.
The Polish currency has strengthened against the euro and the dollar since the parliamentary elections in October, having a significant impact on the central bank’s financial results in zlotys, as it revalued the amount of reserves, including reserves held in foreign currencies.
The new Polish government, which came to power at the end of last year, wants to put Adam Glapinski, the head of the central bank, on trial in a state court, partly because of the institution’s poor performance. The new government accuses Glapinski of not being sufficiently independent from the previous government.
He is also accused of breaking constitutional rules that would have prevented the central bank from financing government borrowing during the pandemic, misleading the finance ministry about the bank’s results and last August informing the finance ministry that it would make a profit of 6 billion zlotys in 2023 can be reached by the central bank.
Glapinski claims that he has always done his work independently of political influence. According to him, the difference between the August estimate of the central bank’s profit and the bank’s later loss was caused by the strengthening of the zloty since the elections.
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