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Economic adjustment and political forces: Poland since 1970

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

Kazimierz Poznański
Affiliation:
Associate Professor of Economics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York.
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Abstract

Postwar Poland has experienced relatively great economic instability and recurring political upheavals, at least by East European standards. Recent dramatic developments include a severe economic crisis following an extended period of spectacular growth. The collapse of the once popular leadership of Edward Gierek, the creation of the first independent trade unions under a communist regime, and the replacement of party with military rule bear witness to the severity of Poland's political disruptions. Have economic or political factors caused the economic crisis? Which are the critical factors? Escalating internal political tensions and enormous external political pressures have caused Poland's current economic collapse, preventing the successful implementation of adjustment policies. The underlying sources of these political forces–namely, worker disillusionment with communist practices and confrontational relations between the superpowers–have not eased to date; the current malaise is likely to continue for some time.

Type
3. Economic Strategy inside the CMEA
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 1986

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References

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13. Under Gierek Poland not only was relatively more dependent on hard-currency oil imports than were many other East European countries, but its purchases were also cleared mostly with Western countries, whereas other East European countries dealt mostly with the developing nations, particularly Libya and Middle Eastern oil-producing countries. The latter transactions were certainly easier to finance, because many of them were cleared by Eastern Europe with military deliveries. For instance, in 1978, Poland imported 3.6 million tons of hard-currency oil, while Czechoslovakia imported 1.3 million tons. In per capita terms these imports were very similar, but the share of hard-currency imports in Poland's total oil imports was twice as high as that for Czechoslovakia. More than two-thirds of Polish hard-currency imports came from the West, whereas the West provided only one-third of the Czechoslovakian imports. In addition, almost no Polish imports of crude oil were shipped to the West, while almost half of Czechoslovakian hard-currency imports were reexported for hard currency (i.e., practically all oil imports from the developing nations). See Wharton Econometric Forecasting Associates, “Soviet and East European Trade and Financial Relations with the Middle East,” Centrally Planned Economies: Current Analysis, 11 10 1983Google Scholar.

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21. Only the Soviet Union has been receiving larger shares than Poland of its Western credits from government-guaranteed sources in the region. For instance, in 1970 these sources provided 61% of Soviet credit, and 63% of Polish credit, but only 7% of East German and 28% of Czech credit. In 1980 the respective shares were: the Soviet Union, 50%; Poland, 25%; East Germany, 22%; Czechoslovakia, 11%. To give another example, in 1981 59% of Poland's gross debt was accumulated in guaranteed credits, whereas in Romania this share amounted to 22%. See Wharton Econometric Forecasting Associates, “Lending to the Eastern Bloc by Western Governments,” Centrally Planned Economies: Current Analysis, 25 05 1982, p. 2Google Scholar.

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26. During 1982-84 Hungary obtained $1 billion in medium-term loans from the IMF. The World Bank arranged the long-term credit of $400 million. The World Bank also helped Hungary to negotiate $800 million in long-term loans from private bank sources. With other creditsincluding some from governmental souces—Hungary received a total of $4.1 billion in these three years. Polityka [Warsaw], 6 04 1985Google Scholar.

27. Fink, Economic Effects of the Polish Crisis. In 1980–81 the total assistance amounted to $3 to $4 billion, which included $ 1 billion in hard-currency credits and a nonrepayable grant of $500 million. The rest consisted of trade deficits not cleared by Poland, which had no direct impact on its ability to service the debt to Western countries. Eastern Europe did not provide any substantial help (the only important exception was a small emergency shipment of goods by East Germany); in fact, East European countries put additional pressure on Poland by reducing exports in order to cut their recent trade surpluses.

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29. Marrese, M., “Hungarian Agriculture: Drive in a Proper Direction” (Mimeo, Northwestern University, Evanston, III., 1983)Google Scholar. Also, while Poland cleared all its trade with the Soviet Union in nontransferable rubles, Hungary also ran dollar accounts with the Soviet Union. In 1980 these accounts provided Hungary with a surplus of about $500 million, a sum close to the Hungarian trade deficit with Western countries in that year.

30. S. Gomułka, Growth, Innovation, and Reform, chap. 13.

31. Ibid.

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35. This nonrevolutionary and nonpolitical attitude was characteristic of the prewar history of the labor movement in Poland, as Blobaum, R. points out in “The Traditions of Workers' Protest in Poland” (Mimeo, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., 1983)Google Scholar.

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41. The amount of Western credits that Poland received has declined further since the 1981 squeeze. Medium-and long-term credits reached $1.2 billion in 1982, $6 million in 1983, and hit bottom in 1984, with $2 million in Western credits reported (see Mościcki, “Po umowie paryskiej”). On European borrowing see Lenz, A., Controlling International Debt: Implications for East-West Trade, report prepared for the Office of Trade and Investment Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1983)Google Scholar.

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44. Poznański, “State Policy towards Technology Transfer.”

45. Poznaṅska, J., “Foreign Trade Adjustment of Indebted Countries in Eastern Europe, Latin America and Far East” (Mimeo, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, N.Y., 1985)Google Scholar.

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47. Reportedly, Poland will be able to allocate $2.2 billion to finance its $2.7 billion in debt service in 1985, meaning that the balance of current accounts is going to be negative this year as well (Mościcki, “Po umowie paryskiej”). The increasing Polish debt stays in contrast with debts of other East European countries and the Soviet Union. Reportedly, the whole region reduced its net debt to Western countries from $75.1 billion by the end of 1982 to $65.1 billion by the end of June 1984. Between June 1983 and June 1984, the debt of Bulgaria declined from $1.3 to $1.0 billion; in Czechoslovakia from 2.5 to 2.0; in East Germany, from 8.8 to 7.3; in Hungary, from 7.0 to 6.8; and in Romania, from 8.4 to 7.8. Meanwhile, Polish debt grew from $25.2 to $25.3 billion (these data differ from those provided in Mościcki's article but still show a trend in the same, upward direction).

48. See for instance debt projections for Poland by Crane, K., The Credit-Worthiness of Eastern Europe in the 1980s, R-3201-USDP (Santa Monica: Rand, 1985)Google Scholar.

49. Staniszkis, Self-Limiting Revolution.