Economics In Brief: Budget deficit; Forex reserves; Euro zone

The budget deficit stood at zł. 17.5 billion on April 7, around 45% of the t arget of zł. 38.7 billion, Deputy Finance Minister Wiesław Ciesielski said y esterday. Official budget figures for the first three months of the year wil l be released next week. After the first two months of this year, the gap st ood at 30.2% of the target. (Reuters) ... Governor of the National Bank of P oland (NBP), Leszek Balcerowicz said yesterday that a release of the bank's reserve against foreign exchange shocks, proposed by the Finance Ministry, w ould boost inflationary pressure. His comments suggest that the NBP is not r eady for a compromise with the Finance Ministry on the proposed release of a part of the NBP's zł. 27 billion so-called revaluation reserve. (Reuters) .. . Poland has not given up its plans to buy hard currencies on the interbank market, but will do so only if the złoty firms at least 5% from the current rate, a Deputy Finance Minister said yesterday. Ryszard Michalski also said the most difficult step on Poland's way to the euro zone would be agreeing t he złoty parity rate with the European Commission and the European Central B ank. (Reuters) A.K.