Kolodko vows to reform public finances and tackle unemployment

Economy Minister Grzegorz Kolodko assured deputies at a parliamentary debate on the budget on Friday that he would eagerly set about reforming public finances. The plan for the reforms will be presented by the government at the beginning of 2003. Kolodko said that although the budget is not ideal, "there are more and more better things happening in the Polish economy [as] Leszek Miller's reform program has already started ... It is a good, and at the same time a difficult, budget. We forecast a 3.5% increase in GDP. On the one hand this is 3.5 times more than in 2001, while on the other also only a half of that in the days of the "Strategy for Poland" when GDP was growing at 7%," boasted Kolodko. He also pledged to fight unemployment. "Next year we want to make a breakthrough here," he said, adding that the number of jobless had decreased by 1,000. During the debate only deputies from the coalition gave the budget a positive evaluation while the opp osition picked the budget draft to pieces accusing its authors of excessive optimism. (Gazeta Wyborcza, Oct 12-13, p. 29; Rzeczpospolita, Oct. 12-13, p. B1) A.Z.