UPDATE 2-Polish cbankers move to talk up zloty as slide worsens

                                
   (Adds FDI estimates, detail on growth)
                                
 By Piotr Skolimowski and Dagmara Leszkowicz
                                
 WARSAW, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Polish central bank policymakers
moved to talk up the zloty on Tuesday as the currency sank close
to an all-time low against the euro amid a broad flight out of
central and eastern European assets.
                                
 In a range of interviews, Governor Slawomir Skrzypek and
fellow rate-setters Andrzej Slawinski and Dariusz Filar called
the zloty clearly undervalued and said the economy's
fundamentals should eventually help the currency recover.
                                
 Polish economic growth slumped to 3-4 percent in the fourth
quarter of 2008 and Labour Minister Jolanta Fedak suggested on
Tuesday the unemployment rate could rise to 12 percent by
mid-2009.
                                
 "It is obvious that the zloty is below its fundamentals,"
Skrzypek told the public radio in an interview.
                                
 The zloty hit a new multi-year low of 4.9300 per euro in
early trade on Tuesday before recovering some ground. Its
all-time low against the euro was 4.9330 in February 2004, just
months before the country joined the European Union.
                                
 The central bank has so far maintained there was no need to
intervene to prop up the zloty and Andrzej Slawinski told daily
Rzeczpospolita the currency's fluctuations reflected global
trends in speculative capital flows.
                                
 He said that any potential intervention would have to be
aimed at increasing the risk for speculative attacks against the
zloty, not at stabilising the zloty at a particular level.
                                
 Another policymaker Dariusz Filar in an article published by
daily Gazeta Wyborcza said the government's success in reining
in the budget deficit, the economy's resilience and a slower
pace of monetary easing should eventually help the zloty.
                                
 "If the forecasts of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia
being a special central European trio prove correct... investors
on the currency market will have to notice that our currency is
significantly undervalued," Filar said.
                                
 The currency has weakened more than 16 percent since the
start of this year in a sell-off that has engulfed other
currencies in the region due to worries over a collapse in
growth of their export-dependent economies and financing.
                                
 Poland's finance minister in the recent comments suggested
the country's growth could even undershoot even the government's
worst case scenario of 1.7 percent, comparing to 3.7 percent
currently assumed in 2009 budget bill.
                                
 Later on Tuesday the head of state's foreign investment
agency PAIiIZ said the FDI inflows this year could be close to 7
billion euros. The agency previously forecast FDI inflow level
at 7-10 billion euros.
 (Editing by Andy Bruce)