22:00 14 July 2020
Moody’s predicts weakening of Poland’s rating
After the presidential election, it is likely that weakening of institutional strength in Poland is likely and this is a negative factor for rating, Moody’s, one of the three biggest credit rating agencies in the world, has said. Andrzej Duda, a loyal ally of the governing right-wing nationalist and populist Law and Justice (PiS) party, was re-elected as the country’s president on July 12. Duda has been accused of rubber-stamping all of PiS’s bills. PiS has been accused of democratic backsliding and erosion of the rule of law.
According to Moody’s, since taking power in 2015, PiS has implemented a number of reforms that “threaten the rule of law in Poland by weakening the independence of the judiciary.”
“Andrzej Duda repeated during the election campaign that he would continue to support the institutional and economic reforms of PiS. We expect that these reforms will further weaken the institutional strength and carry a risk for Poland’s medium-term competitiveness, which is a negative factor for rating,” Moody’s added.
As a result, as indicated in the report, the World Bank WGI (World Governance Indicators) for Poland has weakened. World Bank WGI provides a ranking of over 200 countries and territories based on six dimensions of governance, including political stability, government effectiveness and control of corruption.
(PAP)
