Coal mines' solvency problems continue to deepen according to state agency

The State Agency for Restructuring Hard Coal Mining (PARGWK) says the seven state-owned coal mining holdings incurred losses of about zl. 725 million in the first half on this year. The loss is slightly lower than in the first half of last year when it stood at over zl. 1.6 billion. However, the total debt of the sector has risen by zl. 2 billion to over zl. 20.6 billion. At the same time, the mines are owed by its debtors about zl. 3.4 billion. The sector extracted 51.8 million tonnes of coal this year or 4.3 million tonnes less than in the corresponding period in 1999. Employment in the mines fell by 9,000 to 164,700. The solvency of the mines is expected to be salvaged by a directive by the Economy Ministry to sell coal for cash and refrain from trade through non-monetary transactions. (Puls Biznesu, page 5) S.M.