Poland Banks on Privatizations to Plug Budget

Poland is emerging as one of the stars of this gloomy year. It looks set to be the only country in the European Union to record economic growth for the full year, and its GDP hasn't contracted year-on-year in any quarter for the past 14 years, according to the Polish statistics office – an admirable accomplishment.

Still, the Polish government will be walking a tightrope next year when it comes to its state budget and is counting on revenue from an ambitious privatization plan to plug a ballooning budget deficit. The economy continues to grow, but at a much slower pace, down from 6.8 percent in 2007, according to Eurostat, to 1 percent in 2009, according to IMF and Finance Ministry forecasts. And although most analysts agree this is the year the economy bottomed out, growth is expected just to edge up in 2010, not immediately bounce back to boom-time levels.