A financial official in Poland has insisted that the country will not lose out if it delays its plan to adopt the euro.

The eastern European country is currently aiming to adopt the single currency in 2012, a move which requires it to meet various economic criteria, reports Reuters.

However, Marian Noga of the Polish monetary policy council does not believe the nation will suffer if it is does not fulfil all the requirements on time.

He commented: "If we fail to enter the [single currency] this year and the whole euro adoption process is delayed, the sky won't break either."

Speaking to Gazeta Prawna, Mr Noga added that if inflation continues to ease at its current rate, there is "no reason" to be concerned that it will not meet the criteria.

If Poland is to keep to that schedule it will have to be ready to join the ERM-2 exchange rate mechanism before the middle of 2009.

Prime minister Donald Tusk's government also has to find a way to change Poland's constitution in order to allow the European Central Bank to become the country's monetary authority - a move which opposition parties currently refuse to back.