...Although public debt looks set to rise and could harm this country's rating

At the end of 2003, the public debt exceeded the first warning level of 50%, which means that the rate of state and local government deficit to revenues in 2005 must not be higher than that in 2004. "If the debt keeps on growing fast, then rating agencies will reduce their evaluation of Poland, which will result in growing costs of servicing the debt in the end," said Marcin Mróz, an economist at Societe Generale. However, economists believe that the improving economic situation and increasing budget revenues mean that there is still a chance of avoiding any further crossing of warning levels. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B1) M.M.