The Monetary Policy Council surprised by Wednesday's decision on interest rate reduction. After cutting by 0.25 percentage points The main rate will be 5 percent Economists did not hide their surprise right after the announcement. The president of the Polish Bank Association Tadeusz Białek also referred to the matter. He noted that The MPC decision is part of the scenario in which, in the opinion of many experts, by the end of the year the NBP reference rate is to amount to 4.75 percent.
“Of course, it depends on external factors, e.g. the severity of pro -wire phenomena, mainly associated with the increase in geopolitical risk,” he emphasized. He pointed to the conflict in the Middle East or the war in Ukraine. “These are events that may affect the process of interest rate reduction,” he noted.
Interest rate reduction. What does it mean for banks?
The President of the ZBP indicated that if The reduction of interest rates has a negative – though small, because “we are talking about 0.25 percent here” – impact on banks' revenuesthis is also the other side of the coin. “Reductions give the perspective of increasing the availability of loans for both natural persons and entrepreneurs, also directly affect the increase in creditworthiness” – he noted.
He noted that in the case of entrepreneurs, the cost of the loan is not mentioned in the top three barriers hindering investments. “However, it certainly does not remain without influence as one of the elements that entrepreneurs can take into account when analyzing the decision on the investment undertaking,” he assessed.
He emphasized that with a total reduction of 0.75 percentage points The cost of the loan will be noticeably lower than at the beginning of this year, what may translate into increased interest in consumers and entrepreneurs.
Interest rates down. How much lower installment?
Tadeusz Białek said that a reduction of 0.25 percentage points It is relatively small – especially at the May reduction by 0.5 percentage points. As he pointed out, e.g. in the case of a variable interest rate at 400 thousand. PLN for a period of 20 years it may be up to PLN 70 less in a monthly loan installment, but in the horizon of the entire loan period taken in January this year. For 20 years for the amount of 400,000 PLN may mean about 20 thousand. less.
The President of ZBP added that in the case of loans with a fixed interest rate, only new borrower will feel the MPC decision.
