NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's CreditWire) March 1, 2000--Standard&Poor's today assigned its triple-'B' foreign currency senior unsecured credit rating to Poland's upcoming euro 400 million bond due in 2010. Poland's ratings reflect: -- Recent advances, and good prospects for extending, structural reforms during the next few years. Progress has been particularly noteworthy with regard to pension and administrative reforms and large-scale privatization (including banks with increasing participation by strategic foreign investors). Also, after numerous delays, restructuring plans have finally taken shape and are being implemented for the steel and mining industries. The recent change in financing the health system, while suffering from ineffective implementation, is also an important sign that the current coalition government is willing and able
