Moody's views suspension of Polish retail tax positive for Tesco and others

WARSAW, Sept 22 (Reuters) - The suspension of Poland's new retail tax by the European Commission is positive for Tesco , Carrefour (LSE: 0NPH.L - news) , Kingfisher (Frankfurt: 812861 - news) , Metro (Dusseldorf: 62M.DU - news) and Jeronimo Martins, which all operate in Poland, ratings agency Moody's said on Thursday.

"The European Commission did not question Poland's right to decide on its tax levels but insists that the tax system should respect EU law," Moody's said in a statement.

"Accordingly, we believe that it is likely that a tax with flat-rate structure will eventually be introduced."

Moody's added that, over the medium term, it expects the cost of the tax largely to be passed on to consumers through price increases.

The European Commission opened an in-depth investigation on Monday into a new Polish progressive tax on the retail sector that it says may be discriminatory and ordered the suspension of the levy until the investigation has been concluded. (Reporting by Marcin Goettig; Editing by David Goodman)