The finance ministry announced the new savings instruments on Wednesday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
1-year and 2-year bonds
The new bonds will have a maturity of one to two years and will be tied to the Polish central bank's (NBP) reference rate, officials said.
Holders will earn interest on a monthly basis, reporters were told.
Tied to NBP reference rate
The one-year bond will pay 5.25 percent interest in the first month. In subsequent months, the interest will "represent a sum of the NBP reference rate and a margin of 0.00 percent," the finance ministry announced.
Meanwhile, the two-year bond will pay 5.50 percent interest in the first month. Afterwards, the interest will be computed by "adding the NBP reference rate and a margin of 0.25 percent," according to the Polish finance ministry.
Moreover, whenever the NBP reference rate is negative, the bond’s interest that month will be equal to the margin, making sure holders are not affected by the negative rate, it was announced.
Bid to 'protect the savings of Polish families': finance minister
Poland’s Finance Minister Magdalena Rzeczkowska said in a statement that the new instruments represented “an attractive offer of retail savings bonds.”
She added that the bonds were designed “to protect the savings of Polish families from the effects of inflation, whose causes are mainly external.”
The new savings instruments will be available for purchase by phone, via the internet and in person from the state-run bank PKO BP, officials said.
Inflation in Poland stood at 12.4 percent in year-on-year terms in April, the country’s Central Statistical Office (GUS) said earlier this month.
The Polish central bank’s Monetary Policy Council in May raised key interest rates for the eighth consecutive time in a bid to tame surging consumer prices.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, gov.pl, businessinsider.com.pl