Privatization proceeds from last 10 years have reached over zl. 38 billion

Revenue from privatization of 5,000 state-owned companies over the past 10 years totals over zl. 38 billion. Unfortunately, however, only 920 companies were actually privatized, half of them going to National Investment Funds (NFI) whose performance has not met expectations. Of the 1,900 companies directly privatized, almost 1,700 closed down for financial reasons and only 1,483 were transformed into Treasury companies. Analysis of restructuring data reveals a steady decline in the number of privately-owned companies. It is hoped next year's privatizations will be more effective, although they are not expected to outstrip this year's windfall. This year's record sell-off of a 35% stake in Telekomunikacja Polska S.A. (TPSA) to France Telecom should earn the Treasury zl. 25 billion. There are still 2,500 public companies scheduled to be privatized, mainly by voivods.(Prawo i Gospodarka, June 10-11, page 1,2) P.S.