The Polish government in April said it would seek to replace the WIBOR interbank rate on which most mortgages are based by Jan. 1, 2023, in addition to other borrower easing measures.

Rising interest rates have squeezed the household budgets of many Polish mortgage holders, whose instalments rise along with the WIBOR interbank rate.

"The next step for (the steering committee of the national working group) will be adopting a roadmap specifying the schedule of activities towards replacing the WIBOR benchmark with WIRD", KNF said in a press release.

"Ultimately WIRD is to become the key interest rate benchmark ... used in financial agreements (i.e. loan deals), financial instruments (i.e. debt securities or derivatives) and by investment funds (i.e. for setting management fees)," it added.

WIRD uses data representing overnight (ON) transactions as its input.

The working group includes representatives of Poland's finance ministry, central bank, KNF, the Warsaw Stock Exchange, leading commercial banks and investment fund management companies among others.

(Reporting by Karol Badohal; Editing by Mark Porter)