WARSAW, March 11 (Reuters) - Poland's central bank unusually provided two sets of economic forecasts in its inflation report on Monday, in a sign of the uncertainty regarding the outlook for price growth amid questions over food taxation, energy pricing and global crises.

At the beginning of 2024 analysts had been expecting the March inflation report to give a clearer picture of the outlook for inflation, but with government policy on regulated energy prices and zero VAT on food staples yet to be finalised uncertainty remains.

The National Bank of Poland (NBP) expects inflation to be 3.0% in 2024 and 3.4% in 2025 if zero VAT on food and measures to keep household energy prices down are extended. If they are not extended, it expects inflation to be 5.7% in 2024 and 3.5% in 2025.

It said the scenario in which the measures were extended was taken as being the more likely. The NBP targets inflation of 2.5% plus or minus 1 percentage point.

"The future inflation path is highly dependent on the form of the government's future shielding measures which up to now have mitigated the effects of energy price rises on households and firms," the bank said.

"In the case of food prices, there is significant uncertainty about the horizon in which the zero VAT rate on staple food products will remain in force. For this reason, the March projection was prepared with two scenarios."

With the central bank in wait-and-see mode as the new pro-EU government that took office in December finalises its policy reviews, the forecasts are likely to support expectations that rates will remain on hold in the coming months.

"In general it reinforces the MPC's view that rates should be held unchanged," Piotr Bartkiewicz, an economist at Pekao, said.

The NBP said that in the scenario where anti-inflation measures were maintained, a significant acceleration of economic growth was expected.

In such a scenario it forecasts growth of 3.5% in 2024 and 4.2% in 2025, compared to 0.2% in 2023.

"The rebound of economic activity over the projection horizon will also be supported by other fiscal measures that increase household disposable income, including wage rises for selected groups of public sector workers and further increases in the value of social benefits," the NBP said.

"In the years 2025-2026, the expected sharp increase in the inflow of EU funds under the 2021-2027 financial framework will have a positive impact on GDP growth."

(Reporting by Alan Charlish, Anna Koper; Editing by Ed Osmond and Alison Williams)