Economy - overview In 1996, Poland continued to make good progress in the difficult transitionto a market economy. The transition began on 1 January 1990, when the newdemocratic government instituted shock therapy by decontrolling prices, slashingsubsidies, and drastically reducing import barriers. Although real GDP fellsharply in 1990 and 1991, in 1992 Poland became the first country in the regionto resume economic growth with a 2.6% increase. Growth advanced to 3.8% in1993, 5.2% in 1994, 6.5% in 1995, and 6.0% in 1996. Most of the growth since1991 has come from the booming private sector, which now accounts for morethan 60% of GDP, attributable mostly to the creation of new private firms.Large-scale industry still remains largely in state hands. The trade and currentaccount balances officially are in deficit but in fact both have comfortablesurpluses because of large, unrecorded sales to cross-border visitors. Thegovernment has promised to extend privatization and social welfare reformand to maintain fiscal and monetary discipline. As for external debt, theburden was sharply reduced by reschedulings and write-offs of both privateand official debt during 1991-95.

GDP purchasing power parity - $246.3 billion (1996 est.)

GDP - real growth rate 6% (1996 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $6,400 (1996 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture : 6%
industry: 40%
services: 54% (1996 est.)

Inflation rate - consumer price index 18.8% (1996 est.)

Labor force
total: 17.662 million (1996 est.)
by occupation: industry and construction 32.0%, agriculture 27.6%, trade, transport,and communications 14.7%, government and other 25.7% (1992)

Unemployment rate 13.3% (yearend 1996)

Budget
revenues: $37.1 billion
expenditures: $40.6 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1996 est.)

Industries machine building, iron and steel, coal mining, chemicals, shipbuilding,food processing, glass, beverages, textiles

Industrial production growth rate 8.5% (1996 est.)

Electricity - capacity 29.64 million kW (1994)

Electricity - production 127.42 billion kWh (1994)

Electricity - consumption per capita 3,124 kWh (1995 est.)

Agriculture - products potatoes, milk, fruits, vegetables, wheat; poultry and eggs; pork, beef

Exports
total value: $30.9 billion (f.o.b., 1995)
commodities: intermediate goods 38%, machinery and transport equipment 23%, consumergoods 21%, foodstuffs 10%, fuels 7% (1996 est.)
partners : Germany 35.7%, Netherlands 5.9%, Russia 5.4%, Italy 4.9% (1994)

Imports
total value: $34.6 billion (f.o.b., 1995)
commodities: machinery and transport equipment 32%, intermediate goods 20%, chemicals15%, consumer goods 9%, food 9%, fuels 8% (1996 est.)
partners: Germany 27.5%, Italy 8.4%, Russia 6.8%, UK 5.3% (1994)

Debt - external $45.8 billion (1996 est.)

Economic aid
recipient: Western governments and institutions pledged $22 billion in grants andloans during 1990-94, but much of the money has not been disbursed

Currency 1 zloty (Zl) = 100 groszy

Exchange rates zlotych (Zl) per US$1 - 2.8158 (January 1997), 2.4250 (1995); note -a currency reform on 1 January 1995 replaced 10,000 old zlotys with 1 newzloty; 22,723 (1994), 18,115 (1993), 13,626 (1992)

Fiscal year calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Poland on this page is re-published from the 1997 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Poland Economy 1997 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Poland Economy 1997 should be addressed to the CIA.