Poland - Factors to Watch on Feb 8

Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch, which may affect Poland's financial markets on Wednesday. ALL TIMES GMT (Poland: GMT + 1 hour):

INTEREST RATES

Polish central bank's Monetary Policy Council (MPC) publishes its monthly interest rate decision on Tuesday announce, with most analysts expecting the main rate to be kept unchanged at 4.5 percent.

PENSIONS

Poland's President Bronislaw Komorowski hold consultations with parliamentary parties on the government's plans to raise and equalise retirement age for men and women at 67 years.

Poland's leftists opposition SLD party as well as the country's prominent Solidarity trade union want Poles to vote in a national referendum on that matter, though Prime Minister Donald Tusk has explicitly ruled that out.

BRE RESULTS

BRE Bank, a Polish unit of German lender Commerzbank, reported a better-than-expected 46 percent rise in fourth-quarter earnings thanks to resilient demand for loans.

BRE said on Wednesday its net profit increased to 285 million zlotys ($90.50 mln), whereas analysts expected it to stand at 258 million.

SHALE

Exxon Mobil will drill at least six shale gas exploratory wells between the third quarter of 2012 and the third quarter of 2014 on top of two drilled so far, daily Rzeczpospolita reports.

PKN ORLEN

Poland's top refiner PKN Orlen will focus on exploration of unconventional gas and oil in Poland and multiply spending on that as well as upstream, over the next five years compared to earlier estimates, CEO Jacek Krawiec tells daily Puls Bizensu.

CHEMICAL FIRMS

Warsaw wants to unload all its stakes in chemical firms Ciech, Tarnow and Pulawy over the next 20 months, Treasury Minister Mikolaj Budzanowski tells Puls Bizensu daily.

GAS TARIFFS

Higher gas tariffs may take effect as of March following the regulator's approval, Rzeczpospolita daily reports.

PGNiG

Polish gas monopoly PGNiG confirmed on Tuesday it placed 500 million euros in bonds due 2017 at a yield of 4.098 percent.

AFGHANISTAN

Poland will pull out 700 of its troops from Iraq this autumn, daily Gazeta Wyborcza reports.

For latest story on Poland's engagement in Afghanistan, see:

NOTE - For a diary of forthcoming events see and a calendar of east European economic indicators see .

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