Polish National Bank

Poland’s center of note issue, credit, and payment, established in 1945. In accordance with its charter (1959), the bank issues banknotes and regulates the money supply and provides credit to replenish the working capital of state industrial enterprises, trade and transport enterprises, capital construction and communal services enterprises, and cooperative organizations. It also refinances other credit institutions in the country, organizes and controls monetary transactions in the national economy, supervises plan fulfillment with respect to foreign trade, and makes payments and renders accounting services under the state budget.

On Jan. 1, 1970, when the Investment Bank merged with the Polish National Bank, the latter took over the function of granting credit on capital investments in all branches of the national economy except agriculture and forestry, where these functions are performed by the Agricultural Bank. The Polish National Bank in the early 1970’s accounted for 80 percent of total short-term and long-term credits in the national economy. The bank has 17 województwo offices and 427 branches throughout the country. Its main office is in Warsaw. The bank’s balance as of Jan. 1, 1974, amounted to 846,849,000,000 zlotys. More than 90 percent of its assets were loans to the national economy, and 80 percent of its liabilities were deposits to the accounts of socialist enterprises.