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Poland Price Increases
Sudden liberalization of prices brought an average
price
increase of 79.6 percent in the program's first month. The
high
prices were intended to eliminate some major distortions
in
pricing and begin to adjust demand to the existing limited
supply. Price liberalization stopped hyperinflation but,
unexpectedly, inflation remained high.
Annual price increases were 250 percent in 1990 and
70.3
percent in 1991. Except for the first quarter, however,
average
quarterly price increases in 1990 were considerably
smaller than
the equivalent increases in 1989, when the administrative
system
of price determination and controls still dominated. The
average
quarterly price increases were lower in 1991 than in 1990.
Data as of October 1992
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