BIS-Polish inflation a worry but should ease-c'bank gov

BASEL, Switzerland, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Current high inflation is a concern for the Polish central bank although this should ease next year, Poland's central bank governor said on Sunday.

"What is my worry now is inflation, from agricultural costs and from commodities," National Bank of Poland President Slawomir Skrzypek told reporters on the sidelines of central banker meetings on the global economy and markets at the Bank for International Settlements in the Swiss city of Basel.

"Now we are a little above our target and we expect that next year we will come back to our target," he said, echoing earlier comments from members of the Polish central bank.

Polish inflation might accelerate to about 4 percent in the first quarter of 2008 and may remain above 3.5 percent in entire 2008, monetary council member Dariusz Filar said on Thursday.

Filar added that inflation, which jumped to 3.6 percent in November, might ease to the central bank's target of 2.5 percent in the first half of 2009, if the council acts appropriately.

At their regular bi-monthly gathering, world central bankers are expected to fret more about shaky economic growth than rising inflation as financial market turmoil has created a lot of uncertainty about the outlook for the global economy.

Skrzypek said that the possible fallout from the credit crisis remained a concern.

"We are still worried about the market situation," he said, though adding that Poland had been hardly affected so far. (Reporting by Sven Egenter, editing by Maureen Bavdek)