Blessings of capitalism mixed says Gov't

According to the Government Center for Strategic Studies (RCSS) the country's political and economic transformation has yielded many positive economic results over the last decade but also some unfavorable consequences, particularly in the social sphere. The most praiseworthy achievement is believed to be the apparent progress in the construction of a free market economic system (since 1989 the number of private companies has increased threefold to 1.8 million), the development of the privatization process (the contribution of the private sector to GDP is currently 72%, while in 1990 it was 31%), the opening up of the economy, the inflow of foreign capital ($61.6 billion to 2002), and the creation of a number of market institutions. Under the heading of 'least favorable' occurrences of the transformation process the RCSS included high unemployment and the poor situation in agriculture. Similarly disquieting is the excessive regional stratification - an evident division of the country into the developed western part and its more underdeveloped and backward eastern counterpart, as well as the diversification of income within society (the salaries earned by the highest paid 20% of Poles are six times higher than those earned by the 20% lowest paid). (Rzeczpospolita, Nov. 23-24, p. B2) A.C.