Belka claims delays in TPSA, PZU privatization hurt budget liquidity

Poland will increase debt issuance in the first quarter of next year because of lower than expected privatization revenues in 2001, Finance Minister Marek Belka said yesterday. "The budget's liquidity situation, even though not endangered, will be more difficult in the first quarter of 2002 as we will have to increase demand for capital from the markets, which of course means stopping a favorable trend of falling market rates," the Polish Press Agency (PAP) quoted the Finance Minister as saying. Belka explained that delays in the flotation of telecoms giant TPSA and insurer PZU, both initially planned for 2001, would hurt the budget's liquidity in the final weeks of the year. "Privatization revenues have been an unpleasant surprise this year," he said. He explained that Finance Ministry estimates indicate market interest rates are now about one percentage point higher than they would have been, were it not for the zl.5.5 billion in lost revenues from the privatization of TPSA and PZU. (Reuters)