On July 31, 2002, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services lowered its long-term local currency sovereign credit and senior unsecured debt ratings on the Republic of Poland to single-'A' from single-'A'-plus. At the same time, Standard&Poor's affirmed all other ratings on Poland, including its triple-'B'-plus long-term foreign currency sovereign credit rating. The outlook is stable. The lowering of Poland's long-term local currency ratings reflects the persistence of high fiscal deficits in the medium term and a projected increase in the government debt burden. The government's medium-term fiscal strategy targets general government deficits of 5.7% and 5.1% of GDP, respectively, in 2003 and 2004. With privatization expected to proceed only slowly, Standard&Poor's projects that the debt-to-GDP ratio will
