Poland awarded "grade three" risk in latest Dun&Bradstreet investment guide

Economic think-tank Dun&Bradstreet (D&B) has rated Poland as a country of low economic risk in its latest report. D&B evaluates 130 countries every month in terms of their attractiveness to foreign investors. The company considers four types of risk as major factors in the research - political, commercial, macroeconomic and internal. Poland was classified as grade 3, while countries with the highest risk are awarded grade 7. The Czech R epublic and Estonia share the same grade as Poland, while Hungary and Slovenia are better-rated. However, Poland's risk has a decreasing tendency in the report as opposed to that of the Czech Republic and Estonia. Russia received grade 6 in the report, and Romania, grade 5. D&B emphasized among the positive factors that Poland had signed an agreement on avoiding double taxation with Holland in February 2002 - the 79th such agreement. Minister Kolodko's plan to exempt companies with poor financial results from paying taxes was classified by the agency as a risk factor since the plan, intended as a weapon in the war against unemployment, may exert pressure on public finances which, in view of the high budget deficit, is considered dangerous. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B7) P.W.