Food prices impact on inflation, but 2003 budget on target

The Central Statistical Office (GUS) published figures of Monday showing that inflation jumped by 1.6% in November from 1.3% in October, which was mainly due to growing food and fuel prices. The data was in accordance with analysts' expectations. According to the Finance Ministry, the CPI index should amount to 1.8% by the end of December, and should reach the level of 2% in 2004. Other forecasts of the Ministry envisage GDP growth of 3.6% in 2003. Furthermore, according to Finance Minister Andrzej Raczko, this year's budget projections are not under threat. After 11 months, the Treasury collected 90.3% of annual planned revenues and state expenditures were at a similar level (90.6%). This means that the budget deficit amounted to 91.8% at the end of November, which is over 2% better than last year. This is mainly due to high income from indirect taxes, such as VAT. (Parkiet, p.7) M.M.