Ukraine War Is No Reason for Poland to Join Euro, Central Bank Says

(Bloomberg) -- The war in neighboring Ukraine, which has upended European security and fueled a record weakening of the zloty, is not an argument for Poland to join the common currency, central bank Governor Adam Glapinski said. 

Glapinski said on Wednesday that membership in the 19-nation currency area won’t make his country --  the European Union’s biggest economy outside the euro region -- safer in military terms. 

Joining the euro, however, would lead to slower economic growth and higher inflation, he said, without providing any evidence to support this claim.

“We’d lose the opportunity to catch up with richer countries,” Glapinski told reporters in Warsaw on Wednesday. Poles would be reduced to a nation of “asparagus-pickers,” he said, referring to a practice of Polish seasonal workers who travel to Germany to help collect the crop each year.

Glapinski and his allies in the government -- who have allowed inflation to spiral to a two-decade high of 9.2% in January -- have repeatedly played down the prospects of Poland switching to the euro in the foreseeable future. 

Nevertheless, the governor did say that his institution was discussing opening up foreign-currency swap lines with the European Central Bank, along with other leading global monetary authorities, as a precautionary measure.

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