Steel restructuring plan sees debt repayment postponed

Following the acceptance by the Sejm of a plan for restructuring the steel sector, the country's steel mills have been given until 2005 to pay off debts amounting to zl.540 million, funds lent to them by budgetary institutions. However, according to Deputy Economy Minister Edward Nowak, the amount may actually be lowered by zl.170 million, since the original estimate assumed that the restructuring programs of all the companies would be accepted. The country's steel works owe a total of zl.1.2 billion to the Treasury, with just three plants responsible for zl.1 billion of the debt. They are the Katowice, Sendzimir and Florian steel works, which are to form the core of the planned Polskie Huty Stali steel concern. (Puls Biznesu, p. 3) K.K.