Poland

Poland’s prime minister said Tuesday he’s concerned that if given money now Ukraine would use it to pay the debts it owes to Russia rather than to initiate reforms as it seeks to build a new system of government, The Wall Street Journal Emerging Europe blog reported. “There’s concern the money that would be given to Ukraine now would go through it as a transit country. It would be ironic if Europe and the West helped only to see this money paying debts owed to Russia. Debts must be paid, of course, but this is not why we want to organize help for Ukraine,” Donald Tusk told reporters.

Poland will increase its budget gap for this year by nearly half, the government said yesterday, acknowledging the severity of the current slowdown in the economy so far among the most resilient to Europe's financial crisis, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. Finance Minister Jacek Rostowski said that the government would increase its budget deficit by some 1 percent of gross domestic product, an equivalent of some $15.6 billion. The increase will be a strongly stimulating impulse "that will help the economy get back on track in coming years," Rostowski said.

After German travel agency GTI Travel declared bankruptcy on Monday, its Polish unit has decided to suspend sales and declare insolvency, the Warsaw Business Journal reported. The Polish company has said it is looking for new flights for its clients as Sky Airlines, a member of the Kayi Group that also includes GTI Travel, has also gone bankrupt. Kayi Group, which is active mostly in Germany, the Netherlands and Russia, has been present in Poland since 1999.

A bankruptcy court on Monday approved Central European Distribution Corp's bankruptcy exit plan, putting Russian billionaire Roustam Tariko on the verge of adding one of the world's largest vodka producers to his stable of companies, Thomson Reuters News & Insight reported. Under the plan, green lighted in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Tariko will receive all of the Polish company's newly issued stock in return for $277 million he is providing for the benefit of its creditors.

The Polish government will work to correct “a giant mistake” that is the country’s private pension system, introduced in 1999 and responsible for the bulk of Poland’s public debt, its finance minister said Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal Emerging Europe blog reported. The government in recent years has wrestled with privately managed pension fund companies, which receive a percentage of gross salaries and invest it in the capital market.

A unit of Russia's Alfa Group said on Thursday it had withdrawn its proposal to acquire Central European Distribution Corp, one of the world's largest vodka producers, through a restructuring of CEDC's finances. Alfa Group unit A1 said in a two-sentence statement to Reuters that it had officially withdrawn its non-binding offer to restructure CEDC. It also said the two other members of its consortium, CEDC investor Mark Kaufman and SPI Group, which owns Stolichnaya Vodka, had been informed of its decision.

Central European Distribution Corp , a leading vodka producer that missed a debt payment last week, received a restructuring plan offering $280 million in cash, which would turn the equity over to a group led by a Russian investor, Reuters reported. A1, a unit of Russia's Alfa Group, was also offering investors that hold notes issued by CEDC $650 million in new debt, according to a letter that was sent to the board of CEDC on Thursday.

Central European Distribution Corp , the maker of Russian Standard Vodka, said it has scrapped a bond exchange after a rival company owned by its chairman made its own offer for the same notes, Reuters reported. Roust Trading Ltd, owned by Russian billionaire and CEDC Chairman Roustam Tariko, has offered to buy the CEDC notes that it does not own for $25 million in cash and $30 million in secured notes issued by Roust. Tariko's company owns approximately $102.6 million of the $258 million of the 2013 notes, which matured on March 15 without a payment from CEDC.

Poland's LOT airline said Friday it will present a plan to stave off bankruptcy next month after the government indicated that there will be no more money for the lossmaking state-owned company, the Associated Press reported. Poland's main link to the western world under communism until 1989, LOT has largely struggled since. LOT spokesman Marek Klucinski said the rescue plan will be presented March 20 and will include layoffs among some 2,000 employees and a deep restructuring of the company and its routes. LOT's most profitable routes are to Chicago and New York.

Poland’s government drew a line in the sand ahead of the upcoming European Union’s summit, saying proposed 30 billion euros ($39.9 billion) of additional budget cuts were “inconceivable,” The Wall Street Journal Emerging Europe blog reported. EU leaders will Feb. 7-8 meet to try to agree on the size and structure of the bloc’s budget for 2014-2020 after the failure of their previous attempt in November over the €30 billion of more cuts proposed by Germany.