Monetary Policy Board (RPP). Joanna Tajrovic’s entry on announcements from Monetary Policy Board meetings

‘For some time now, Mr. President has arbitrarily not included in the minutes several issues raised by Council members during the session which we drafted as amendments to the minutes. To be more precise: the president arbitrarily decides what statements (for example, my statements) go into the record,” Tarovic wrote.

“You can easily guess what is not included in the protocol,” she said.

Joanna Tajrovic asked how regulations regulate this issue. “What now? More precisely: what can I do, as a member of this Council, to ensure that the record reflects, in my opinion, what my statements (or answers to my questions) should reflect). How does the law in Poland see this situation?” – I wrote.

In a post on social media, Joanna Tajirović also drew attention to what the regulations oblige the President of the Polish National Bank and the Board to do. She explained that, according to what the regulations require, the president prepares draft minutes of the meeting, and corrections and additions can be made to these minutes.

“At the next session, the Council adopts the minutes of the previous session. When the Council votes to adopt the minutes, it does not know its final form. This means that Council members do not know whether their observations and amendments have been implemented or not taken into account,” the economist described.

A member of the Monetary Policy Committee also drew attention to the confidentiality clause. “The minutes are confidential. There is a recording of the session. Some of the recordings do not have any classification, but the president imposes a confidentiality condition on some parts of the meeting. The president makes secret what is stated in the minutes of the session.” She added: “The public part of the meeting relates to the ‘restricted’ paragraph.” But also – secret for the “restricted” paragraph – what goes into the protocol from the secret part.”

Joanna Tajirowicz also attached correspondence between her and the President of the Polish National Bank, Adam Glabinski. The economist requested in writing “a statement of the legal basis on which she intervenes in the content of the minutes of the Monetary Policy Council meetings with regard to the statements of individual Council members.” We read: “Or please indicate that you are doing so without any legal basis.”

In response, National Bank of Japan Chairman Adam Glabinski cited the legal basis on which the minutes of the Monetary Policy Board meetings are prepared and voted on. However, in Joanna’s opinion, Tyrowicz did not answer her question.

We have asked the Polish National Bank to send us its position on Joanna Tajirowicz’s allegations. However, we have not received a response at the time of publishing.

This is the next time an economist criticizes the activities of the Polish National Bank on social media. In October last year, Joanna Tajrovic posted her own version of the statement after the MPC meeting with justification on LinkedIn. “The return of inflation to the Polish National Bank’s target may not even happen for several years and there are no reasons to strengthen the zloty with the current mix of monetary and fiscal policy,” it warned at the time.

During the last meeting in October, the Monetary Policy Council (MPC) decided to cut interest rates on the National Bank of Japan by 25 basis points. Thus, the reference rate decreased to 5.75%.

This was the second consecutive cut in interest rates. In September, the Monetary Policy Board decided to cut interest rates on the National Bank of Japan by 75 basis points. This large size of the reduction surprised many economists.

Data from the Central Bureau of Statistics show that inflation in September 2023 reached 8.2 percent on an annual basis. Compared to the previous month, prices decreased by 0.4 percent. In August, the increase in prices of goods and services reached 10.1 percent year-on-year.