Public switch from bank to investment funds in attempt to avoid capital tax

In 2002 the public withdrew over zl. 8.3 billion from bank accounts and placed substantial amounts of money with investment funds. As the statistics prepared by the Central Bank on the flow of money are still not very accurate, "The final calculations might differ from these estimates by even zl. 1-2 billion," said Maciej Reluga from BZ WBK. Such a sudden outflow of capital might be ascribed to so-called anti-tax bonds, which were issued in November and December 2002. According to Rzeczpospolita, the public bought at least zl. 1.4 billion of these bonds. "Part of the savings were spent on consumption, which explains the increase in spending in this area over the past few months, as it cannot attributed to an increase in real income," said Reluga. Poles increased their indebtedness to banks by 7.5% in real terms in 2002, which is substantially less than recorded over the previous years when it was a two-digit number. (Rzeczpospolita, pp. A1, B1) M.M.