Growth Forecasts Down-ECONOMY.

(From The Warsaw Voice)

The Polish economy is expected to slow this year, but will still grow much faster than in the European Union as a whole.

Although the first signs of an economic slowdown in EU countries appeared in mid-2008, until the end of November the Polish government did not see any reason to revise its optimistic economic growth projections for the coming years. But after macroeconomic data for the third quarter turned out to be worse than predicted and international financial institutions released a series of pessimistic reports, the finance ministry revised its growth projection-included in the 2009 budget bill-from 4.8 percent to 3.8 percent.

Many analysts say the revised growth figure is still too optimistic and will be difficult to meet. "In 2009, Poland's GDP growth will not be lower than 3 percent," said deputy finance minister Katarzyna Zajdel-Kurowska, adding in the next breath …