Finance Minister less optimistic than analysts about economic growth outlook

"Yearly GDP growth of some 5% should be reached in 2004," Finance Minister M arek Belka predicted yesterday. Speaking on Radio Zet, Belka said he expecte d growth of nearly 1% this year and 3% in 2003. He went on to explain that t he government is in the final stages of designing an economic strategy for t he 2002-2006 period which would cover, apart from GDP growth, the reduction of unemployment. Meanwhile, a monthly poll by Reuters has shown that analyst s are tending to be more optimistic than the finance minister, with an aver age prediction for economic growth of 1.6% this year. (Prawo i Gospodarka, p . 3; Reuters) M.K.