New Finance Minister begins to introduce changes to the 2005 budget draft

Mirosław Gronicki, the new Finance Minister, plans to revise the 2005 budget outline drafted by his predecessor Andrzej Raczko. Gronicki fears that this year's inflationary pressures could hamper domestic demand and therefore undermine revenues. However, he is not planning on any tax hikes, although reductions also are not likely. He did say that he would look for new spending reduction measures to complement those already included in the Hausner plan. Hausner himself would like to see next year's deficit trimmed from the zł.38.8 billion figure envisaged by Raczko, to around zł.35 billion. Gronicki is also looking at possible organizational changes at the Finance Ministry and redefining the responsibilities of some of the ministry's top officials. (Puls Biznesu, p. 6) T.J.