Pawlak plans to trim and consolidate Warsaw Commodity Exchange

Former Prime Minister and incumbent head of the Warsaw Commodity Exchange (WGT) Waldemar Pawlak is preparing a plan to keep the ailing commodity bourse afloat. Under the provisions the exchange will undergo serious cost-cutting in order to be consolidated with other entities operating in the agriculture sector, such as the Commodity Exchanges in Poznan and Wroclaw. The program, which Pawlak and WGT's board of directors have been working on since Monday, will need the approval of the bourse's supervisory board before it can go ahead. According to WGT deputy head Artur Zur, its financial situation is not bad, but it has problems with current operations. Operating losses that were zl.7 million at the end of last year have risen by zl.1 million, while turnover has shrunk by 70%. The lack of solvency results from WGT's huge spending and small income. (Rzeczpospolita, p.B2) J.K.