State may be forced to pay out billions to employees

The State Treasury admitted that an amended act on commercialization and privatization will have an effect on the governmental program of consolidating the energy sector. Following the changes, which came into effect in the last days of July, employees of the state-owned companies whose shares are being transferred to other state firms, have the right to a cash equivalent instead of shares. In the case of energy groups planned for consolidation, this would mean multi-billion-z³oty compensations. In the meantime, according to estimates, demand for energy will be growing at a pace of 2.5% per year, which will require annual investments of z³.5-7 billion. "We do not have a ready solution yet, but the best lawyers are working on it. There are some proposals," said enigmatically Micha³ Krupiñski, Deputy Treasury Minister responsible for the energy sector. Despite these problems, the government is not planning to abandon its plans related to the consolidation of the energy sector and representatives of the Treasury still opt for granting these employees shares. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 6) M.M.