Poland puts off bank tax plans

WARSAW: Poland has suspended work on a tax it planned to levy on lenders to create a rescue fund that would help stabilise the local banking system in the event of a financial crisis, the finance ministry said on Monday.

"All work on the banking tax has been halted," said ministry spokeswoman Malgorzata Brzoza. "There was only a small chance that this bill would pass during the current parliamentary sitting."

Poland holds a parliamentary election in October and the centrist ruling Civic Platform (PO) of Prime Minister Donald Tusk is expected to win a second four-year mandate. PO will probably put forward the bank tax after the polls.

Government officials have been coy about how they would collect the tax, which would be used to create a special rescue fund.

Sources told Reuters last month that the European Union's executive would propose an EU-wide tax on financial transactions from 2014 as part of plans for the bloc's next long-term budget.

Copyright Reuters, 2011