Poland revises 2010 deficit up to 7.9 pct of GDP

(WARSAW) - A poor outlook for tax revenue has forced EU member Poland to revise its deficit estimate for 2010 up by one percent to 7.9 percent of GDP, the country's finance ministry said Friday.

"The deterioration of the forecasts was mainly due to a greater than expected decrease in tax revenues, including personal and corporate income taxes," the ministry said in a statement.

Finance Minister Jan Rostowski has said Poland aims to bring its deficit to below the 3.0 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013, one year after a deadline set by Brussels.

"The deficit is forecast at 6.5 percent of GDP in 2011, 4.5 percent in 2012 and 2.9 percent in 2013," Rostowski told parliament as he tabled the 2011 draft budget earlier this month.

The EU's Maastricht Treaty on monetary union allows eurozone members and candidates an annual public deficit of no more than 3.0 percent of GDP. Poland is one of 24 countries out of the EU's 27 members, on which Brussels has imposed excessive deficit procedures.

Having scored a 1.7 percent rise in output last year, Poland was the only country in the 27-member EU to have maintained economic growth in 2009 during the global crisis.

It expects to see its GDP to expand by 3.5 percent this year and 3.5 percent next year.