Fitch lowers its forecast and puts this country at bottom of EU entrants pile

The decision reflects concerns over the vote of confidence in the new government of Marek Belka, to be held next week, and the current state of public finances. According to Fitch, the country's public finance deficit, as measured by the European Accounting Standards, will reach 7.6% by the end of 2004, which is poor compared to the figure of 3.3% achieved in 2000. The decision resulted in a temporary depreciation of the zloty, yet increased the profitability of Polish bonds. (Rzeczpospolita p. B1) M.G.