Polish Finance Minister Pawel Szalamacha on Saturday declared global ratings agency Standard and Poor's "simply wrong" after it downgraded the country's long-term foreign currency sovereign credit rating citing concerns over government reforms.
Standard and Poor's on Friday cut the rating by one notch to 'BBB+' over controversial institutional changes pushed through by the new right-wing administration that swept to power in Poland in October, including tighter government control over state media and changes to the constitutional court. "In our view, these measures erode the strength of Poland's institutions and go beyond what we had anticipated regarding policy changes from the general election," S&P said.
The downgrade prompted a slide in the Polish currency, the zloty, to its lowest level against the dollar since 2003. Szalamacha called on the agency to "reverse this erroneous decision". "The S&P agency has not taken economic aspects into account, but is concentrating on politics," he told private TV channel TVN24. "The economy is doing very well. Just two days ago the World Bank increased its economic growth forecast for Poland. The International Monetary Fund has approved a new renewable credit line," he added.
The World Bank has revised higher its growth forecast for Poland this year to 3.7 percent from its estimate of 3.6 percent in June. The Polish government predicts the economy will expand by 3.8 percent in 2016.
Poland is eastern Europe's powerhouse economy with uninterrupted growth since 1992. The S&P rating of BBB+, with a negative outlook, signifies that agency could drop the rating again over the next two years if the health of the country's public finances and monetary policy deteriorate.
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