Poland seeks IMF $20B to make zloty safe

Poland’s borrowing of $20 billion from the International Monetary Fund will protect the country’s currency from speculative attacks, economic analysts said.

Matteo Napolitano of the Economist Intelligence Unit in London said the IMF credit was aimed at increasing confidence in the Polish economy, Polish Radio said Wednesday.

Jacek Rostowski of the Polish Ministry of Finance said it wasn’t a rescue loan, a situation in which the IMF demands economic reforms and a smaller budget deficit. Rostowski said Poland was given no conditions to meet.

Poland’s zloty would be a far more stable currency after the Warsaw government announced it will seek an IMF special credit line, the Polish Dziennik daily said Wednesday quoting economic analysts.

The IMF special credit, granted with no strings attached to countries with sound economies, underlines that Poland isn’t in danger of catastrophic effects of the global economic crisis, Dziennik said.

In its statement Tuesday, the Polish government said the IMF Flexible Credit Line is aimed at increasing the national bank’s reserves by one-third. Poland’s reserves currently amount to $61 billion, the Polish news.pl Web site said.

The IMF credit is expected to help Poland’s economy become more immune to the financial crisis, news.pl said.