In Brief: Strong steel output; National Bank of Poland; Income tax bill

Polish steel-mills recorded a 20% growth in output in the first half of the year, a result only comparable with the growth achieved by China. "The growth is so large because we are comparing a good year with 2003, which was disastrous for the sector," said Romuald Talarek from Steel-mill Industrial and Commerce Chamber (HIPH). Experts believe that the second half of the year would not be as good. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 5) ... Bankers and management of the National Bank of Poland believe that interest rates are certain to increase. They say growth is dependent on the inflationary pressure. Interest on deposits should go up much more than the rate on loans, because the latter was growing previously. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 6) ... The Finance Ministry estimates that the proposed changes to the bill on personal income tax would decrease revenues of the public finances sector by about zł.270 million in 2006. (Parkiet, p. 7) M.M.