The Polish government would be “unhappy” to see a short term appreciation of the zloty though it accepts that such a development would be beneficial in the long run, according to secretary of state for finance Jaroslaw Pietras.
“In the short term we would be rather unhappy with an appreciating zloty,” Pietras told Emerging Markets at the EBRD’s annual meeting. In the long run, with rising exports, increasing EU funds and higher volumes this “will obviously put pressure on the zloty to appreciate.”
Poland’s zloti is one of a number of central and eastern European currencies considered by Templeton Investments' emerging markets guru Mark Mobius as overvalued following a huge spike in investment. He also mentions the Russian rouble and Hungarian forint.
Polish undersecretary for the economy Andrzej Kaczmarek, however, played down concerns over the currency: “It’s not hampering the development” of the economy, he told Emerging Markets.
Czech deputy foreign minister Tomas Prouza was also sanguine about the rate of the koruna. “In the short term it’s not good for our economy, it does hurt exports but if you look at the long term its forcing our companies to look at quality. Really in the long term it’s helping the economy,” he said in an interview with Emerging Markets at the EBRD meeting.