Poland launches plan to privatise 740 state companies
Poland plans to privatise more than 700 state-owned companies in the next four years in a drive aimed at increasing competition and innovation in the economy.
By Agencies |
WARSAW: Poland plans to privatise more than 700 state-owned companies in the next four years in a drive aimed at increasing competition and innovation in the economy, the prime minister said on Tuesday.
``The government has adopted a program that foresees the privatization of 740 companies between 2008 and 2011,'' Donald Tusk told a news conference on the floor of the Warsaw Stock Exchange. ``A large chunk of those will be privatised this year.''
Tusk's pro-business government won elections last fall on promises of speeding up privatisation, which floundered under the previous nationalist, conservative government of Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
Tusk said that ``one of the key development impulses for the Polish economy should be increasing competition and innovation.'' He said that means limiting the ``over-abundance of the state in the economy.''
Treasury Minister Aleksander Grad said Poland will sell stakes in four power groups, including Polska Grupa Energetyczna, Tauron, Energa and Enea.
Grad said the government also wants to reduce its stake in the country's second-largest bank, PKO BP, in several measured steps.
Pharmaceuticals, tourism, publishing and a handful of other industries would be ``fully privatized'' by 2011, Grad said. ``There's no reason for the Treasury to be involved in these sectors,'' he added.
Grad added that the government expects to earn around 30 billion zlotys (US$14 billion; euro8.8 billion) from the privatisations.
In order to implement in the plan, Grad said the government plans to adopt a draft law next week aimed at streamlining privatisation procedures.
``The government has adopted a program that foresees the privatization of 740 companies between 2008 and 2011,'' Donald Tusk told a news conference on the floor of the Warsaw Stock Exchange. ``A large chunk of those will be privatised this year.''
Tusk's pro-business government won elections last fall on promises of speeding up privatisation, which floundered under the previous nationalist, conservative government of Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
Tusk said that ``one of the key development impulses for the Polish economy should be increasing competition and innovation.'' He said that means limiting the ``over-abundance of the state in the economy.''
Treasury Minister Aleksander Grad said Poland will sell stakes in four power groups, including Polska Grupa Energetyczna, Tauron, Energa and Enea.
Grad said the government also wants to reduce its stake in the country's second-largest bank, PKO BP, in several measured steps.
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Pharmaceuticals, tourism, publishing and a handful of other industries would be ``fully privatized'' by 2011, Grad said. ``There's no reason for the Treasury to be involved in these sectors,'' he added.
Grad added that the government expects to earn around 30 billion zlotys (US$14 billion; euro8.8 billion) from the privatisations.
In order to implement in the plan, Grad said the government plans to adopt a draft law next week aimed at streamlining privatisation procedures.
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