Privatization revenues insufficient to cover the Treasury's future obligations

The demand for state-owned enterprises to be privatized by 2005 is estimated at between zl. 90.5 billion and zl. 130 billion. The actual revenues from sales in this period are forecast at zl. 32 billion, which means at least zl. 60 billion will have to be organized in a different way. The documents prepared by the State Treasury Ministry (MSP) prove that the budget demand for privatized assets this year alone stands at zl. 18.69 billion. These are obligations arising from acts involving the use of revenues from the privatization of MSP assets for purposes such as pension reforms. The above mentioned amount tops zl. 19.03 billion if the draft of Finance Minister Kolodko's plan to increase restructuring aid for companies is included. The reason for this deficit in revenues is slow privatization, for example last year's revenues equaled only zl. 700 million, with zl. 6.9 billion estimated for this year (the sale of G-8 and STOEN will be sufficient). According to MSP, the average annual revenues from privatization will be zl. 7-8 billion in 2003-2005, while the drain on capital from pensions by 2005 alone is estimated to absorb from zl. 57.5 billion (estimates of MSP) to as much as zl. 130 billion (estimates of ZUS), leading potentially to a huge budget deficit in the future. (Parkiet, p. 1) P.W.