Consequences of a High Interest Rate Policy in the Process of Disinflation. The Case of Poland

The aim of the article is to analyse the consequences of a high interest rate policy pursued in Poland since 1990 in the process of disinflation. The interest rate was the main instrument of monetary policy in a situation when the economy lacked a money market on which the money supply could be influenced directly by open market operations. The application of a high interest rate had many unfavourable consequences both in the real sphere and in the financial sphere. The most important of these consequences in the real sphere was that it forced self-financing on the part of enterprises, the ineffective allocation of resources, delays in carrying out investments, the cyclicity of demand; the effects in the financial sphere mainly concern the banking sector, where the assets of the banking system become distorted, while for enterprises the most important consequences result from the high cost of credit, which increases costs and reduced the competitiveness of enterprises dependent on credit. The authors analyse these consequences and formulate hypotheses and a research programme for testing them.