The Idea of Central Banking in the Final Years of the First Polish Republic

The need to establish a national bank in the Polish Republic was addressed in 1763 by Fr Stanisław Konarski in his O skutecznym rad sposobie. The need to secure the issue of Polish money increased as a result of the crisis caused by the flooding of the Polish market with Polish coins counterfeited in Prussia. The discussion was joined by proponents of mercantilism, who saw the possibility of keeping good Polish money in circulation by using dead capital in “deposit coffers.” However, only the Sejm could establish a central bank. The first drafts saw the light during the sessions of the Four-Year Sejm (1788–1792). Among them, the proposal of the famous Warsaw banker Jędrzej Kapostas deserves our attention, who in 1789 published a work entitled O banku narodowym w Polszcze and Planta ułożenia projektu Banku Narodowego in the next year. Paper money in Poland appeared in circulation during the Kościuszko Uprising. To this end, the Treasury Notes Administration was established, which issued so-called “assignments.” They survived until the fall of the uprising. The Third Partition of Poland put an end to the discussion of the establishment of a central bank.