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Poland The External Balance of the Economy
The collapse of Comecon put all former member countries
in a
state of economic crisis by completely changing the terms
of
trade among them. Those disturbances seriously damaged the
Polish
economy. Polish imports from the Comecon partners declined
by 34
percent in 1990 and by 45 percent in the first three
quarters of
1991, whereas exports declined by 13 percent and 44
percent
during the same periods.
Beginning January 1, 1991, the former Comecon countries
ceased using transferable rubles in most trade among
themselves.
In 1991 imports paid for in rubles declined by 83.0
percent, and
ruble exports declined by 84.9 percent. At the end of the
year,
this category accounted for only 14.4 percent of Poland's
overall
imports and 9.8 percent of its overall exports. Only five
years
earlier, these proportions were 51.9 and 46.1 percent,
respectively.
Particularly influential was the collapse of the Soviet
Union's economic and geopolitical structure, an event that
undermined that country's international commitments.
Drastic
declines in imports from the republics of the former
Soviet Union
rapidly eroded Poland's supply of fuels and raw materials
critically needed for production. At the same time, Polish
exports to the Soviet republics also declined
dramatically. In
the general chaos of economic restructuring, potential
importers
in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and other republics could pay
in
foreign currencies in amounts only up to 18 percent of
their own
trade earnings, and barter transactions were prohibited by
their
governments. Under these conditions, the overall share of
Comecon
partners and the former Soviet Union in Polish trade fell
precipitously in 1990 and again in 1991.
Polish enterprises that traditionally had supplied the
Soviet
market suffered particularly strong losses as the Comecon
system
shattered. Before 1990 about 300 Polish enterprises
exported a
large proportion of their output to the Soviet Union, and
more
than thirty of them produced exclusively for the Soviet
market.
Producers of metalworking machinery, light airplanes,
construction equipment, electronics, medical equipment,
ships,
textiles, clothing, and pharmaceuticals found themselves
with
little opportunity to adapt their product mix or shift
exports to
new markets before most or all of their traditional market
was
lost
(see Foreign Trade
, this ch.).
Especially in light industries, entire enterprises
became
idle and contributed heavily to Poland's unemployment
problem.
Particularly hard hit was ód , the main textile center
and
second largest city. ód experienced 16.3 percent
unemployment
in 1991, the third highest figure in the country. The
metallurgical industry experienced the second biggest
export
decline in 1990. Ironically, this industry had received
the
largest share of investments in the 1970s drive for new
technology. In 1990 declining demand led to worker layoffs
at the
giant Katowice Steel Mill and other centers.
Data as of October 1992
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