Warsaw - Poland will end its missions in Chad, Lebanon and the Golan Heights, Defence Minister Bogdan Klich announced on Wednesday, as part of government budget cuts prompted by the economic downturn.

Klich told Radio ZET that Wednesday he will inform President Lech Kaczynski of the plans to axe those three peace-keeping missions, but that Polish troops will remain in Afghanistan and Kosovo.

"In accordance with the strategy accepted by the government in early January, the NATO missions are an absolute priority," he told Radio ZET.

The cuts at the Ministry of National Defence are part of a government plan that is to reduce spending by 19.7 billion zloty (5.5 billion dollars) in 2009. The cuts amount to some 10 per cent savings for the year.

Klich also said that modernizing Poland's army will now "go slower," but that the army's professionalism will not suffer.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk had been meeting with ministers since Friday on slashing spending amid forecasts of slowing economic growth and rising inflation.

The talks came as Polish officials admitted the country is not immune to the world financial crisis. They had previously assured that Poland would be safe thanks to a strong banking system.

Tusk has recently said the country's GDP could grow by as little as 1.7 per cent in 2009, while inflation could be up 1.9 per cent, reported the Polish Press Agency. (dpa)