The interest rates are regulated by the Monetary Policy Council, created in 1998 within the National Bank of Poland. The President of the NBP is also the Chairperson of the Monetary Policy Council, whose members are appointed for a 6-years term by the President, the Sejm and the Senate (three members each). One of the main responsibilities of the Montetary Policy Council and the NBP is to manage the stability of Polish currency, which includes controlling and monitoring inflation rates. One of the financial instruments used by the Monetary Policy Council is the control over short-term interest rates.

There are 4 main types of interest rates set by the MPC - referential, lombard, deposit and rediscount rates. The policy of MPC is usually defined by the changes in the referential rate. Deposit and lombard rates mark the fluctuation of overnight interest rates on the interbank market. The last one - rediscount rate - is not an instrument for counteracting inflation. A tool for shaping the bank policy of the NBP, it is a price for which the NBP buys back bills of exchange from banks on the market.

In 2005, the interest rates in Poland were falling (see Graph 2.1). This came as a result of an assessment of the state and perspectives of inflation in Poland, carried out by the NBP and the MPC. In accordance with the presently realised NBP strategy of direct target inflation, the main aim of the monetary policy is to stabilise the mid-term inflation at 2.5%.

Changes in NBP interest rates from 01.01.2005 to 28.06.2007:

Source: Monetary policy outline for 2007
http://www.nbp.gov.pl/Publikacje/
o_polityce_pienieznej/zalozenia/zalozenia_pp_2007.pdf

current rates of exchange are available at:
http://www.nbp.gov.pl/Dzienne/Stopy_procent.html