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Poland ECONOMY
Salient Features: Wide-ranging measures taken
beginning
in 1990 to convert communist economy into market-oriented
system,
including commercialization of interest and exchange
rates,
abolition of price subsidies and wage indexation, and
encouragement of foreign investment. Enterprise
privatization, a
central policy goal, met with uneven success; substantial
portion
of production capacity remained state-owned in 1993.
Mining: Major deposits of industrially useful
minerals
exploited, including coal, copper, lead, zinc, sulfur, and
salt.
Natural gas and petroleum reserves expanded, with new gas
discoveries 1980s and early 1990s.
Energy: Coal, major energy source, generated 70
percent
of electrical power, 80 percent of total energy, 1989.
Imported
and domestic petroleum and natural gas other major fuels.
Imported fuel and power 21 percent of total import
expenses in
1990. Nuclear program ended for financial, environmental
reasons.
Major reorganization planned for fuel-energy sector in
early
1990s, including market pricing.
Manufacturing: Employed 25.2 percent of labor
force in
1989. Principal branches food products, machinery and
computer
equipment, metals and metal products, textiles and
clothing,
transport equipment (including ships), and chemical
products.
In light and heavy industry, many plants outmoded and
required
wholesale modernization and Western investment. After 1990
consumer goods production up to bolster exports.
Agriculture: Never collectivized on large scale
in
communist era. In 1989 some 79 percent of agricultural
production
from private land, 17 percent from state farms. In 1989
agriculture employed 25.7 percent of labor force. Private
farms,
much more numerous, also mostly small and inefficient,
suffering
from poor availability of materials and infrastructure.
Major
reform and land redistribution contemplated. Main
products:
grains, potatoes, sugar beets, fodder, pigs, and cattle.
Foreign Trade: Principal exports coal, copper,
coke,
sulfur, ships, foods, and chemicals. Principal imports
crude oil,
iron ore, fertilizers, wheat, machinery, and electronic
equipment. Maintained 60 percent of trade with members of
Council
for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon) in 1980s; major
shift
away from that group by 1990. Associate membership in
European
Community (EC) 1991 began reemphasis on opening Western
markets;
Comecon group export share declined to 9.8 percent 1991.
Currency: Zloty; exchange rate March 1993, US$1
equalled 15,900
zlotys (see Glossary).
Fiscal Year: calendar year.
Data as of October 1992
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