GDP expected to pick up after lower-than-expected 4th quarter growth

The Finance Ministry lowered its gross domestic product (GDP) growth f orecast in the fourth quarter of last year to between 0.6% and 0.9%. P reviously the Ministry had estimated the figure at slightly above 1%. The poorer-than-expected fourth quarter growth could mean that GDP in the whole of 2001 did not rise above 1.1% to 1.2%, compared with 4% in 2000. "The economy is likely to grow slightly faster in the first quarter of this year than at the end of 2001," Ludwik Kotecki, deputy head of the Finance M inistry's analysis department, commented. (Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 4; R euters) A.K.