Government sells zl.6 billion Treasury bonds to ease budget shortfall

Finance Minister Jaroslaw Bauc yesterday said that he thought GDP this year will grow by 2%, an increase that would constitute the basis for an amendment to the draft budget, to be submitted to the government today. However, Bauc indicated that the economic deficit would, at around 2.5% of GDP, be higher than the projected 1.8%. A more pessimistic view was expressed by Monetary Policy Council (RPP) member Dariusz Rosati, who claimed that with the deficit possibly reaching 2.7% to 2.9% of GDP, the budget shortfall could be as high as zl.9 billion to zl.11 billion. In an effort to secure the liquidity of the budget, the State Treasury has so far this month sold Treasury bonds worth zl.6 billion. (Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 1) K.K.