As expected, the Polish inflation deepened its downslide in year-on-year terms in November. The headline inflation dropped to 2.8%, the lowest figure in two years. Month-on-month prices grew merely 0.1% - mainly thanks to a huge drop in gas prices. The outlook for Polish inflation remains rosy as the headline inflation should slip below the NBP target by the end of the first quarter 2013. The bright
inflation outlook opens then the door for an even more aggressive easing of the NBP monetary policy. Obviously, the positive inflation development mentioned above has been a key factor behind excellent performance of Polish government bonds this year.
Nevertheless, despite their impressive performance, the Polish bonds were not the best regional performer. While the Czech government bonds recorded very solid gains too, Hungarian government bonds were the best choice for fixedincome investors. Their huge gains can be attributed partly to improving domestic fundamentals (mainly to a declining twin deficit), another key driver was rather relaxed financial and liquidity conditions which brought nominal rates close to zero in the core markets and made investors seek higher yields in other (more risky) markets.