Balcerowicz persuades Committee against using reserves to shore up budget

The head of the Parliamentary Public Finance Committee Mieczysław Czerniawski vowed on Thursday not to use legal changes to force the release of some Central Bank reserves to help finance the budget deficit. National bank Governor Leszek Balcerowicz, who vehemently opposes this idea, told the Committee such a move would undermine the security of the nation's financial system and would not help the budget in the long-term. However, he stated that the Bank might lend part of its reserves to the government if the EU agreed to this. "Changing the National Bank's charter for this goal is not an option," Chairman Mieczysław Czerniawski told MPs during a hearing. Finance Minister Grzegorz Kołodko said he was certain the reserves would be released, raising concerns that Parliament would change regulations to force the bankers to free the paper provisions it holds against forex shocks. (Reuters, Puls Biznesu, p. 6) M.M.