Poland may need a rate cut in Q1 2009 - c.banker

WARSAW, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Poland may need interest rate cuts in the first quarter of 2009 should the economy slow to about 4 percent and inflation ease, Monetary Policy Council (MPC) Stanislaw Owsiak was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
"Should the pace of growth fall (to 4 percent) and inflation ease as outlined in the inflation projection then rate cuts would be possible," Owsiak told daily Gazeta Prawna.
"But this is a scenario that could materialise in the first quarter of 2009 at the earliest," he added.
Owsiak also said the Polish economy would probably slow but it should not be a "deep" slowdown.
"It (the slowdown) won't be deep but if the pace of growth falls to 4 percent then it will be a greater slowdown than most people expect," Owsiak said.
The central bank's June inflation projection showed Poland's inflation is set to stay above 3.5 percent till the end of 2009 and return below the central bank's upper fluctuation limit of 3.5 percent in 2010.
Source: By Kuba Jaworowski,Jacqueline Wong, guardian.co.uk