Jarosław Kaczynski, leader of the Law and Justice (PiS) party that has ruled Poland since 2015, this Saturday threatened banks operating in the country with a tax if they do not speed up the hike in interest rates on deposits. However, the party leader did not specify how this additional tax would be applied.
The reluctance of Polish banks to increase the interest paid to depositors has been criticized by the Polish government at a time when Poles are facing growing difficulty in paying back their loans in the face of inflation.
The criticism of Polish banks stems from the fact that they do not follow the increase in key interest rates of the National Bank of Poland, which began an aggressive cycle of rate hikes – the last increase of 75 basis points was applied on June 8 – upwards. to the current 6%. Interest rates in Poland were at a record low of 0.1% last September and were raised to 0.5% in October. Since then, the Polish central bank has been raising rates every month.
“Banks should come to their senses and radically raise interest rates on deposits,” Kaczynski said. “Otherwise, we will have to tax this excess profit,” he threatened.
BCP has a presence in Poland through Millennium Bank, in which it has a majority stake. Businesses in the country have effectively penalized the accounts of the financial institution headed by Miguel Maia because of reserves linked to old Swiss franc loans.
