Government envisages zł. 30 billion income from privatization

Following a Cabinet meeting yesterday, the Center for Government Information (CIR) announced that the ruling coalition accepted a program to privatize state controlled assets. The plan envisages the collection of over zł. 30 billion in gross revenues from privatization between 2003 and 2006. These revenues will amount to around 1% of GDP annually. According to State Treasury Minister Piotr Czyżewski, this translates into around zł. 8.8 billion per year, and these revenues will be used to lower the budget deficit. Revenues from privatization this year are expected to come in at around zł. 4.5 billion. "Around 80% of the companies scheduled to be privatized require prior restructuring and a capital injections. This particularly concerns the mining, gas, oil, chemical, pharmaceutical, and defense industries," read a statement released by CIR. (Puls Biznesu, p. 5; Rzeczpospolita, p B2 ) A.K.