Moody's expects Poland's GDP to grow, as recession risk rises in Western Europe
2012-04-23 17:30:44
Moody's Investors Service expects Poland's GDP growth to remain positive, even as the risk of recession in the major Western European countries intensifies. Fiscal consolidation remains a key theme for 2012-2013, the agency has announced in a communique.
"Moody's expects that Poland's GDP growth will remain positive, even as the risk of recession in the major Western European countries intensifies," the agency said in the release devoted to assigning its rating to Polish Swiss Franc-denominated bonds.
Moody's assigned an A2 rating with a stable outlook to the double-tranche bond issuance maturing in 2015 and 2018. The A2-rated bonds issued on 17 April include a CHF375 million floating rate note and a CHF450mn 2.25% coupon bond issued to cover an upcoming Swiss Franc redemption. Moody's rates Poland's government bond debt at A2.
The agency stresses that even though GDP per capita is lower than the other Central European countries, the economy is relatively large and growth has been balanced, providing an important degree of stability through the global financial crisis.
"Economic growth has strongly outperformed peers since 2008 (Poland was the only country in the EU to have positive GDP growth in 2009), closing most of the gap that opened during the 2004-07 boom, when Poland grew more slowly than the regional average," Moody's concludes.