Polish Central Bank Gives Governor 19% Pay Bump in Pandemic Year

National Bank of Poland Governor Adam Glapinski received a 19% pay increase last year as the economy suffered its first recession in almost three decades.

Glapinski’s total gross compensation reached 946,871 zloty ($239,811) last year, compared to 794,771 zloty in 2019, according to the central bank’s website.

While the pay is about a half of what European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde made in the period, it follows reports of lavish compensation for some NBP staff and the governor’s advisers.

Glapinski angered bank executives this year by saying they must forgo bonuses, among other criteria, if they want central bank help in converting $32 billion in mostly Swiss-franc mortgages into zloty. News of the generous pay increase comes as the government is asking for “solidarity” with those hit hard by the virus and as the zloty is trading at its weakest level against the euro since 2009.

The central bank declined to comment on Monday to questions regarding the scale of Glapinski’s pay rise, which is determined by the central bank’s governor-led management board. In 2020, the NBP acted early to contain the economic fallout from the pandemic by slashing interest rates and launching a bond-buying program as the economy contracted for the first time since the early 1990s.

— With assistance by Jana Randow