Leading think tank warns the deficit is rising - and rising fast

"In our opinion, this level is alarming, particularly as no action has been taken to slash expenditures," IBnGR's Wojciech Misiąg said in a conference yesterday. "We also expect the transfer of some structural funds from the EU. If we don't take advantage of these funds our deficit will rise to 5.9-6% of GDP," he added. In his opinion, the public debt will exceed 50% of GDP. With such a large debt, we may be in serious trouble. In 2004, the debt will amount to 53-54%. These are our preliminary estimations. Our debts are growing rather than shrinking," he said. (Puls Biznesu, p. 3) A.Z.