APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200070030-5
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subordinate to the industrial ministries. Most of these enterprises, handle both exports and imports of a particular line of commodities; for example, POLIMEX-CEKOP specializes in the export and import of complete plants; BUMAR handles building and road construction equipment; METALEXPORT handles complete plants and machine tool lines for the machine tool industry; and STALEXPORT handles iron and steel. Some handle all trade for a particular domestic enterprise or group enterprises; for example, H. CEGIELSKI handles the foreign trade of the H. Cegielski Metal Industry Plants. A few large enterprises have authority to market certain lines of their own products abroad, but most domestic producers and consumers as yet have had little direct contact with foreign buyers and sellers.
Poland also maintained 11 commercial agencies that provide a variety of trade-related services to foreign clients. These agencies act essentially as sales representatives, engaging in sales promotion activities in Poland and channeling market information back to interested customers. Within the limitations imposed by Communist ideology, Western exporters working through these agencies have recourse to a full range of advertising media and techniques, including press and broadcast coverage and both private and public exhibitions. The most recently established of the agencies, Polimar, S.A., specializes in representation of U.S. firms. AGPOL, an office in the Ministry of Foreign Trade, handles advertising for non-Polish firms and also has the responsibility for private trade exhibitions. The Polish Chamber of Foreign Trade has the responsibility for organizing international exhibitions in Poland and for Polish participation in international exhibitions outside Poland.
Most foreign trade transactions with the West are carried out on a cash basis, with payments made in convertible currencies, such as the U.S. dollar and the pound sterling. Poland's national currency, the zloty, is not convertible and is not used in international payments. Trade with other Communist countries, as well as with some less-developed Western countries, is handled through clearing accounts, with little or no exchange of currencies. On occasion, Poland also has negotiated ad hoc barter transactions.
All Communist countries still clear their accounts with each other on a bilateral basis. The system of multilateral settlement of accounts set up in 1964 between CEMA members does not allow for actual clearing on a multilateral basis. Poland's terms of trade (ratio of export prices to import prices) with Western countries for the most part reflect supply and demand. Prices are generally negotiated with other Communist countries on the basis of recent world prices.
Foreign trade statistics in Poland are reported in terms of the "devisa zloty," an accounting unit which had a nominal exchange rate of 4 zlotys to the US$1 through 1971. The rate was dropped to 3.68 zlotys to the US$1 in late 1971 and to 3.32 zlotys to the US$1 in early 1973. This exchange rate bears no relation to the actual internal purchasing power of the zloty. The approved rate of exchange for tourists in Poland is 33.20 zlotys per US$1.
A fair rate of exchange for the types of goods and services bought by tourists—food, hotel accommodations, transportation, and personal services—probably lies somewhere between the current so-called "special rate" used in commercial transactions (19.92 zlotys per US$1) and the rate of 68 zlotys per US$1 offered in shops specializing in the sale of Western luxury goods for hard currency. The rate of exchange that reflects the internal purchasing power of the zloty for domestic producer goods and construction appears to be on the order of 40 zlotys or more per US$1. A thriving black market in hard currencies operates in the larger cities. In late 1972, the going rate for the U.S. dollar reportedly was 90 zlotys.
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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200070030-5
