State subsidies could help resurrect the financially-troubled mining sector

The recently amended Mining Act, aimed at adapting the mining sector to free market economics, would entitle the ailing sector to a debt-freeze of up to zl. 9.8 billion. However, the Act is subject to ratification by the upper chamber, the Senate. The payment of some other debts, estimated at over zl. 2.2 billion, would also be deferred. The hefty exercise would be financed by subsidies from the state budget. According to Sejm deputy Jerzy Korpak of the ruling Solidarity Election Action (AWS), the parliamentary gesture would help the mining sector emerge from its chronic indebtedness, which has crippled every effort to embrace free market principles. The debt freeze will give the mines breathing space for at least two years, which if prudently utilized, could help the sector begin to break even. The mining sector currently has liabilities of zl. 20.6 billion, or one-seventh of the national budget. The money is owed mostly as social security arrears to the Social Insurance Company (ZUS). (Rzeczpospolita, Nov. 4-5, p. B2)