Economists warn Poland still to face many difficulties making transition

The conclusion reached yesterday at the conference of the Association of Polish Economists is that Poland is at the beginning of its way to well-being but still will face many difficulties. Poland's fragile economic state is shown by the sensitivity of the unemployment rate to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). A fall in the GDP growth rate to 4% would halt the growth of employment. In the Czech Republic or in Hungary, GDP would have to fall to 2% to affect employment. The forecast for Poland's future is a growing current account deficit causing a currency crisis, stagnation, and an explosion in the unemployment rate to more than 20%. The experts call for the government to take action to increase the competitiveness of Polish companies. According to the economists safe GDP growth in the near future is improbable. They say an increase in the growth rate of savings is necessary, government aid for unprofitable companies should be limited, the government should stop relying only on the inflow of foreign capital and lift market barriers. (Prawo i Gospodarka, page 3) E.B.