Making salaries public will damage central bank says Poland govt official

Legislation to make public the salary details of Polish central bank employees will damage the central bank, a bank policy-maker told Reuters. Reports of the high salary earned by a female aide to Governor Adam Glapinski have led to mounting pressure to reveal salaries at National Bank of Poland (NBP). In response, the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) offered a bill in January to make salary details public and cap pay for senior staff at 60 per cent of the governor's. It is expected to become law within weeks.

The cap on salaries could drive out staff looking for higher paid posts in the private sector, rate-setter Grazyna Ancyparowicz said. "The amended law may result in 35 per cent of highly qualified staff quitting their jobs, so within several months it will destroy the enormous intellectual potential of NBP employees," she said.

RATES ON HOLD Ancyparowicz also said that interest rates may stay on hold at 1.5 per cent until the end of the current Monetary Policy Council term, which expires in 2022. That was consistent with earlier comments from the central bank governor. Poland's economy grew 5.1 per cent in 2018 and inflation remains well below the banks 2.5 per cent target, meaning rate setters have little impetus to start raising rates.

Ancyparowicz, who was named to the rate-setting panel by PiS-dominated parliament, also criticised the government's Employee Pension Scheme (PPK), which will be introduced in 2019. She said it would hurt consumption and the state budget. The voluntary PPK system, a flagship policy of the government that aims to boost retirement savings, assumes that workers will spend 2 per cent of their salary for additional pension contributions.

Employers will contribute another 1.5 per cent. The plan will be co-financed by the state. "After the introduction of the PPK, the burden of public finances will be double - direct and indirect - the first, in respect of the budgetary remuneration fund, and additional charges for contributions to pension accounts of participants in these capital plans," Ancyparowicz said. (Reporting by Pawel Florkiewicz, editing by Larry King)