Poland's change of government has improved the environment for fiscal reforms but evidence is needed that they will be implemented before any change in the credit rating outlook, a Moody's analyst said on Wednesday.
Poland has an A2 rating, a notch lower than the Czech Republic, with a stable outlook, and in 2008 Moody's should have more information whether an upgrade is possible.
"In general, we are much more optimistic about this government. When we see good chances of implementation, the stable outlook could change to positive," Alexander Kockerbeck, senior credit officer at Moody's, told Reuters in an interview. "By mid-2008 we will get a clearer picture of what we can expect," Kockerbeck told a news conference later on Wednesday.
The centre-right government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, which replaced a conservative administration after the parliamentary election in October, has vowed to reduce Poland's debt within the next four years and tackle public finance and health reforms.
Kockerbeck said the government's policy plans were a step in the right direction after the previous government failed to take decisive action to reduce the fiscal deficit and debt. "In the past two years, we were not convinced by the government's policies," he said.