Poland's credit-rating could be downgraded

Piotr Kowalski, the head of ratings agency Fitch's office in Poland, told Bloomberg that the country's credit rating could be downgraded if the Polish government does not plan a “substantial and sustainable” reduction in the budget deficit in 2012.

To date, markets have generally ignored the sizeable Polish budget deficit, but the warning from Fitch, combined with the recent negative revision of Eurostat's estimate for the Polish budget deficit in 2010, could bring the government's woes to the attention of investors, according to a report from Danske Markets, the investment banking unit of the German Danske Bank group.