Warsaw on the brink of bankruptcy

Warsaw faces the threat of bankruptcy. The city's predicted indebtedness for the end of 2003 is estimated at zl. 2.5 billion, which means that it may exceed 60%, the uppermost level allowed by law. Then Mayor Lech Kaczynski would be dismissed and replaced by a commissioner to be appointed by the Prime Minister. The reasons for such high debts are manyfold. Firstly, for several years Warsaw has regularly borrowed heavily. Secondly, in a bid to gain votes in last year's local elections, many costly investments were undertaken. Furthermore, before Warsaw's gminas were changed into districts last year, the gminas, being aware of the approaching end of their rule, undertook projects which now have to be financed from the city's central budget. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 1) K.Z.