Budget bill set to be approved

Polish government is set to approve the 2009 budget bill on Wednesday, a financial plan that is meant to lower deficit and put Poland on the road to be ready in 2011 to adopt the euro as Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced.

Once endorsed by the cabinet, the bill will be debated in parliament where Tusk's centre-right Civic Platform and its Peasant Party coalition partner have a large enough majority in order to pass it.

The government plans to slash the 2009 budget deficit to zł.18.2 billion, a move that has been welcomed by investors who call the task as ambitious, but realistic. "I believe this is a good budget. Congratulations for [Finance] Minister [Jacek] Rostowski and the prime minister are in order," said former finance minister Leszek Balcerowicz to Dziennik recently. "It is good because it cuts the deficit and taxes, so it reduces spending. We know that this is not the end of the process, it is a beginning, but in my view a good beginning."

The 2009 budget brings Warsaw closer to meeting euro entry requirements. Tusk announced this month that Poland will adopt the currency in 2011, a move that has been labeled as ambitious and has received much hesitation from senior government officials who have said euro entry would only happen in 2012.

Source: Reuters