Poland's central bank intervenes on FX market to prop up falling zloty

The National Bank of Poland resorted to selling foreign currencies on Tuesday in an emergency move as the Polish zloty slid to its lowest level against the US dollar in two decades over the Ukraine crisis.

It took 4.27 zlotys to buy one US dollar at 5:30 pm on Tuesday, a level last seen during the dot.com bubble downturn in 2000.

This compares to just 3.96 zlotys per dollar just two weeks ago.

The EUR/PLN rate reached 4.76, GBP/PLN went up to 5.70 and CHF/PLN jumped to 4.66 at 5:30 pm on Tuesday.

Three weeks ago, the rates were 4.50, 5.36 and 4.28, respectively.

"Today, the NBP sold some amounts of foreign currencies for zlotys," the bank said in a Tuesday afternoon statement.

Central and Eastern European currencies have been hit hard in recent days as sentiment about the region soured amid uncertainties surrounding the war in Ukraine.