Polish markets calm over potential Glapinski tribunal case, says minister

WARSAW (Reuters) – Moves to put Poland’s central bank governor before a State Tribunal have not had a negative effect on markets, the finance minister said on Monday, in a sign the government is relaxed about any possible fallout from efforts to oust him.

Poland’s pro-European coalition government looks set to submit a motion this week to put Governor Adam Glapinski before a State Tribunal on charges including breaking constitutional rules regarding the central bank financing government borrowing and misleading the finance ministry about the bank’s results.

Glapinski has rejected the accusations against him and defended his record, pointing in particular to a sharp deceleration in inflation over the past year.

The government has launched sweeping reforms of state media and the judiciary as it seeks to root out those it accuses of wrongdoing under the previous nationalist government.

Setting in motion a process that could lead to the removal of the central bank governor is a potentially a risky move.

However, Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski told private broadcaster Polsat News on Monday that markets had taken news about Glapinski in their stride.

“This has been talked about for a long time … and last week bond yields dropped,” Domanski said. “The zloty is stable, it is clearly visible that this topic does not make much of an impression on the markets.”

The Polish zloty has held onto gains of around 5% versus the euro it has made since the pro-European government secured a majority in an October election.

Benchmark 10-year Polish bond yields have risen so far this year but remain around 30 basis points lower than they were before the election.

Glapinski told the Financial Times in an interview published on Monday that he would write to Prime Minister Donald Tusk to try and end their feud over the potential tribunal case.

(Reporting by Alan Charlish and Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Christopher Cushing)