UPDATE: Poland May Meet EU Inflation Criterion Mid-2010
WARSAW -(Dow Jones)- Poland may meet the European Union's inflationary criterion--set out in the Maastricht Treaty--in the middle of 2010, the deputy head of the National Bank of Poland said Thursday.
Poland's consumer price index will likely fall to an annual 2.5% by the middle of the next year, Witold Kozinski said at a press conference, and "by that time, the E.U. countries will likely exit [the] deflation stage," he added.
However, apart from meeting the inflation criterion, Poland has to curb its general government deficit to 3% of gross domestic product.
Under the E.U.'s excessive deficit procedure, Poland has to do this by 2012.
However, deputy Finance Minister Ludwik Kotecki, who was also at the briefing, said Poland could consider joining the pre-euro currency grid ERM2 without meeting the Maastricht criteria.
"Most of the E.U. countries had entered the ERM2 without meeting the Maastricht criteria," Kotecki said. "So I don't see why Poland's shouldn't do it," but he declined to say whether such an option is being considered by the government.
Poland originally wanted to join ERM2 in mid-2009 and hoped to adopt the euro in 2012, but no longer meets most of the Maastricht criteria for euro-zone entry.
-By Malgorzata Halaba, Dow Jones Newswires; +4822 447-2430; malgorzata.halaba@dowjones.com
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Publié le 05 novembre 2009 Copyright © 2009 Dowjones
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