Polish Parliament Enacts 2005 Budget with Lower

UNCLAS WARSAW 000026 SIPDIS Sensitive STATE FOR EUR/NCE TARA ERATH AND MICHAEL SESSUMS USDOC FOR 4232/ITA/MAC/EUR/JBURGESS AND MWILSON TREASURY FOR OASIA MATTHEW GAERTNER AND ERIC MEYER FRANKFURT FOR TREASURY JIM WALLAR E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EFIN ECON PREL PL SUBJECT: Polish Parliament Enacts 2005 Budget with Lower Deficit Ref: 2004 Warsaw 3343 (U) This cable is sensitive, but unclassified, and NOT for Internet distribution. ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Just before Christmas, the Polish Government completed work on a 2005 budget which has a lower deficit for the first time in three years (forecast at 3.7% of GDP compared to 4.8% in 2004). In drafting the 2005 budget, the GOP built on its success in 2004 in revitalizing the privatization program, which enabled the government to meet its year-end debt targets. The 2005 budget expects that revenues will increase 8.9%, based on continued strong export growth and an increase in investments, while expenditures will increase only 1.4% in real terms. There is some concern that the GOP may have difficulty passing three fiscal reform measures in parliament expected to save $1.45 billion. Some of these potential losses in savings could be made up by increased privatization sales during the year. Market reaction has been positive, lauding the government for generally realistic targets. Although upcoming general elections in 2005 will make this year more uncertain than last, the 2005 budget will provide a good base for the new government in drafting its own financial program. End Summary. ¶2. (U) On December 23, President Kwasniewski signed the 2005 budget, completing its enactment. This budget is noteworthy for several reasons. In addition to paying a full year's worth of EU membership dues for the first time, Poland will pay up front significant co-financing obligations for Structural and Cohesion funds from the budget. Despite these challenges, the GOP reversed the trend of the last three years and lowered its budget deficit to 35 billion Zloty ($11.29 billion),a significant reduction from 2004's deficit target of 45 billion Zloty ($12.23 billion at the then-current exchange rate). This will reduce Poland's deficit-to-GDP ratio from 4.8% in 2004 to 3.7% in 2005 on track to meet the commitment Poland made in its convergence plan to lower this figure to 3% by 2007. Finally, this budget will be the last passed by this parliament, as general elections will be held in 2005. Revenues: - - - - - - - �A;¶3. (U) The 2005 budget forecasts that revenues of 174.7 billion Zloty ($56.35 billion) and expenditures of 209.7 billion Zloty ($67.65 billion),for a deficit of 35 billion Zloty ($11.29 billion). In real terms, revenues are expected to increase by 8.9%, while expenditures will grow by 1.4%. The most important sources of revenue will be VAT (42%),followed by excise taxes (24%) and Personal Income Tax (PIT, 13%). The government also forecast that it would receive 5.7 billion Zloty ($1.84 billion) in privatization revenues, a figure the market believes is low. Planned Budget Revenues (in billions of Zloty; one dollar equals 3.1 Zloty) 2004 2005 budget Percent change Total 156.1 174.7 11.9 Total Taxes 136.8 154.4 12.8 (of which) VAT 63.5 73.0 14.9 Excise 37.2 43.0 15.6 Lottery Tax 0.8 0.9 12.5 PIT 22.1 23.5 6.3 CIT 13.2 14.7 11.4 Non-tax Revenues 16.9 16.5 -2.4 (of which) Dividends 1.3 1.0 -23.0 NBP profits 4.0 4.6 15.0 Customs Duties 2.2 1.5 -25.0 Budget Unit Revenues 7.6 7.6 - Local Gov Payments 1.2 1.2 - EU budget Support 2.3 2.7 17.4 Expenditures - - - - - - - - ¶4. (U) Overall expenditures are set to increase 1.4% in real terms. The sectors that will see the biggest increases include information technology, defense, justice and education. Overall spending on defense will increase by more than 11% in nominal terms, in part reflecting Poland's participation in NATO modernization, in part reflecting a reclassification of budget items to include spending under defense which had previously been listed in the education and cultural sectors of the budget. This budget calls for a one percent nominal increase in social expenditures (a 1.9% decrease when inflation is factored in) to 63.5 billion Zloty ($20.48 billion). Roughly half of this amount will be transferred as subsidies to the Farmers Social Security System (KRUS, 14.2 billion Zloty, $4.58 billion) and the General Social Security Fund (FUS, 18.6 billion Zloty, $6 billion). There is a 12% decrease in real terms on infrastructure spending, reflecting expected EU assistance. Main items of budgetary spending: (in billions of Zlotys) 2004 budget 2005 budget Percent change Total 199.9 209.7 4.4 (of which) Agriculture 3.1 2.6 -17.6 Forestry 0.04 0.03 -18.3 Fishery 0.033 0.026 -19.3 Mining 2.1 1.7 -18.9 Industry 0.33 0.25 -24.3 Trade 0.92 0.73 -20.6 Hotels/ Restaurants 0.02 0.02 - Transport/ Communications 5.0 4.1 -18.2 Tourism 0.04 0.03 -11.7 Housing 1.6 1.4 -11.0 Services 0.6 0.4 -34.7 Info Tech 0.15 0.2 27.4 Science 2.9 2.9 - Public Admin 7.8 7.7 -1.4 Admin Organs 1.6 1.9 15.0 Defense 11.3 12.6 11.4 Social Security 46.0 43.0 -6.6 Public Security 8.7 9.0 3.0 Justice 6.4 7.0 9.9 Debt Service 26.8 27.4 2.4 Various Settlements 42.9 49.4 15.0 Education 1.1 1.3 18.3 Higher Education 8.9 9.6 7.6 Health care 3.6 3.7 1.9 Social Welfare 10.4 11.4 9.7 Other social Policy items 5.3 8.0 49.6 A Question of Assumptions: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶5. (U) In preparing the budget, the Finance Ministry assumes that inflation will average 3.0% in 2005, and that economic growth will average 5%, both of which the markets regard as reasonable projections. Parliament arbitrarily increased the expectations for excise tax revenue by 800 million Zloty to justify increased spending on several pet projects. Market analysts are not sure the government will be able to raise this amount from excise. In constructing its expenditure plans, the government also assumed that parliament would pass three reform bills as part of the Hausner plan: a bill reforming the Social Security Fund (FUS),saving 200 million Zloty; a bill increasing social security contributions from larger companies, increasing revenues by 1.6 billion Zloty; and a bill reforming the Agricultural Social Security System (KRUS),saving 1.7 billion Zloty. Finally, parliament passed a bill reinstating a 50% Personal Income Tax rate on the richest Poles over the government's objections, which parliament expects will raise 250 million Zloty. The GOP has dragged its feet about implementing the bill, raising serious questions about whether it will generate any revenue. Taken together, these shortfalls total 4.5 billion Zloty ($1.45 billion). Macroeconomic assumptions: 2004 2005 GDP, billion Zlotys 884.0 952.6 GDP growth % 5.7 5.0 Domestic demand growth % 4.7 5.1 CPI year end % 4.0 2.8 CPI average % 3.4 3.0 Unemployment rate % 19.3 18.2 PLN/USD, average 3.75 3.68 PLN/EUR, average 4.6 4.42 Current account deficit, % of GDP 1.6 2.2 Debt Levels: - - - - - - - - - ¶6. (U) The budget forecasts debt-to-GDP will be at 48.2% (using ESA-95 methodology) by the end of 2005, under the 50% level at which the constitution begins to impose restrictions. Government debt is expected to dip just below 51% at the end of 2004, a slight reduction from the 2003 total of 51.6%. In the budget, the government forecasts that its budget deficit will be 3.7% of GDP in 2005, which will decline to 3.1% in 2006 and 2.7% in 2007, on track to meet the important Maastricht criteria of 3.0% deficit-GDP ratio. ¶7. (SBU) Some analysts see financing of the deficit as the weakest link in the 2005 budget. The net government borrowing requirement is 46.5 billion Zloty, a slight decline from 2004's requirement of 50.8 billion Zloty. The Ministry of Finance has created some room for maneuver for itself by planning on borrowing more than the expected decrease in the deficit would imply. This is intended to leave room in case the government receives less money from privatization than planned, has to pay more than planned for pre-financing EU assistance and/or in case it has to extend emergency loans to local health care units. There may also be some positive carryover from the 2004 budget if the final deficit is lower than has been assumed in the 2005 budget (the 2005 budget forecasts that the final 2004 deficit will be 1.6 billion Zloty lower than expected, while market analysts have concluded it could be up to 4 billion Zloty lower). Finally, the GOP may also have created some wiggle room by using a conservative Zloty/dollar exchange rate forecast of 3.68 for 2005. Should the average exchange rate for the year be closer to today's rate of 3.1, the GOP could save up to one billion dollars in debt service costs. Comment: - - - - - - - ¶8. (SBU) Financial markets are very pleased with this budget. The government has continued the trend begun in 2004 of increasing transparency, with fewer items off-budget and based on sober projections for growth and income. In drafting this budget, the GOP faced several challenges. The GOP managed to lower the budget deficit for the first time in three years despite the fact that Poland will have to pay its first full year of dues to the EU, and pay up front its contribution to EU Structural and Cohesion Funds. This feat is all the more remarkable considering that it was done by a technocratic government with low levels of popular support and that general elections are expected in the summer or fall of 2005. The revival of privatization is a big part of the story. For the first time since 2000, the Finance Ministry did not have to make up shortfalls in revenue late in the year, allowing the government to meet its debt targets. Despite being largely written off by market analysts, the government intends to campaign for important structural reforms to the social security systems, which will be important if Poland is to meet its target of adopting the Euro by 2009. At the very least, the pressure to enact fiscal reforms is expected to mute parliament's inclination to pursue populist spending programs in advance of the general elections. Regardless of the outcome of elections, the 2005 budget will provide a good base for the new government to begin work on its financial program. Ashe