Public debt statistically grows following Eurostat's change in definitions

Many economists believe that this is an undesirable step, as the state's indebtedness to OFEs will now have to be counted as part of the public debt. "It means that the public sector deficit will rise to 7.2% of GDP and that the bonds owned by OFEs make up part of the public debt. Also, the government won't be able to reduce the debt artificially by changing various definitions. This means that one can be almost sure that the public debts will exceed the critical level of 60%," said Krzysztof Rybiński, chief economist of Bank BPH. In the long run, it may prove to be even more difficult to meet the macroeconomic requirements before joining the Euro zone. "It could force Poland to prepare a public finance recovery program that would be more radical than the one by Hausner," warns the chief economist of BRE Bank Janusz Jankowiak. (Parkiet, p. 1; Puls Biznesu, p. 10) M.K.