Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 1, 1993 TAG: 9305010140
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: CRACOW, POLAND LENGTH: Short
The move gives economic reform a major lift and bolsters the position of the government, which has sometimes been shaky.
The program calls for turning a majority of shares in 600 state-owned enterprises over to 20 national investment funds. The funds are to be managed by experienced Western investment companies, which are expected to introduce modern management techniques into ailing enterprises.
The Polish economy has shown encouraging signs in the last year, and Poland has received glowing reviews from international institutions for its moves to a market economy.
More than 50 percent of Polish workers now are employed in private enterprises and inflation was lower than expected in the first three months of this year.
But the defeat in Parliament last month of the privatization plan and arguments among politicians against Western managers dampened some of the confidence.
"We are elated; it is an absolute breakthrough," Christian Duvigneau, a representative of the World Bank in Warsaw, said of the bill's passage.
- The New York Times
by CNB