By Anna Koper

WARSAW, July 4 (Reuters) - Poland's central bank governor said on Thursday that interest rate cuts would not happen before 2026 as inflation is expected to accelerate in the coming months, a day after policymakers kept the cost of credit unchanged for a ninth month in a row.

Adam Glapinski's comments marked an even more hawkish tone than in June, when he ruled out cutting the main rate from its current level of 5.75% in 2024, but expressed a hope that policy could be eased in 2025.

The Polish zloty was 0.4% firmer at 1404 GMT.

"We can forget about cutting interest rates when inflation is rising... this possibility may appear at the earliest in 2026, when inflation starts to fall," Glapinski said.

Inflation in the biggest economy in the European Union's eastern wing was 2.60% in June, within the central bank's 1.5-3.5% target range and well below the double-digit levels seen in 2023.

However, the central bank expects price growth to pick up again in the second half of the year, pushing inflation outside of its target range again.

"According to the current forecasts of our National Bank of Poland, at the end of this year inflation may even approach 5% and, what's more, inflation may increase a little more at the beginning of next year," Glapinski said, adding that rising energy costs would drive price growth.

"In 2026, when the effects of increasing energy prices will expire... inflation should return to the level consistent with the NBP inflation target," he said.

Glapinski said that double-digit wage growth was forecast to persist until the end of the year, fuelling inflation.

The Polish central bank's decision to keep rates on hold came as policymakers elsewhere in the region have signalled that the cost of credit will continue to fall, albeit at a slower pace. (Reporting by Anna Koper, Pawel Florkiewicz, Alan Charlish and Marek Strzelecki; Editing by Alexander Smith)