Belka program aims at boosting demand through road, housing investment

In a statement to the Sejm yesterday outlining the government's economic program, Finance Minister Marek Belka identified as the key targets economic growth, a decrease in unemployment and accession to the European Union (EU). The program envisages boosting demand through investment in road building and housing construction. Belka rejected arguments that such investment threatened to inflate the budget deficit. He said the anticipated upturn in the economy might result in the worsening of some economic indicators. But he doubted that inflation would reach even 4.5%, let alone the National Bank of Poland's (NBP) target of 5%. Former Economy Minister Janusz Lewandowski described the government's strategy as "muddy and slimy". (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 18) M.T.