Finance Minister looks into his crystal ball and predicts euro zone entry date

Finance Minister Grzegorz Kołodko said on Friday, "It would be no tragedy if Poland or Hungary did not enter the euro zone until 2008 or 2009". Kołodko told a news conference in Budapest the rate at which the zloty locked with the euro was more important than the date when it did so. He said he was committed to pursuing a fiscal policy that would allow the country to meet the strict euro zone budget deficit criteria by 2006 and adopt the single European currency in 2007. "For the economy, to join rather sooner than later does not imply that it must be 2007...it should be, and it can be 2007. However, it is very difficult as we have to pull down budget deficit to within 2.5% of GDP," he said. (Reuters) A.Z