APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200070030-5
FIGURE 2. Indexes of GNP, industrial production, and agricultural production (U/OU)
Largely as a result of postwar economic policies, Poland now has a highly diversified industrial sector. Mining and metallurgy, including large hard coal and iron and steel industries, brown coal mining, and zinc, copper, sulfur, and aluminum ore mining and processing, make up a sizable segment of Polish industry, accounting for about 19% of gross industrial output and 15% of industrial employment in 1971. Machine building and food processing are Poland's two largest industries, contributing 27% and 18%, respectively, of industrial output in 1971. The manufacture of chemicals, one of the most rapidly expanding industries in the economy, accounted for about 9% of industrial output in that year. (U/OU)
In its postwar program for economic growth, the Communist government concentrated a large share of its resources on the development of industries that had little economic significance in prewar Poland — iron and steel, machine building, and chemicals — and on the development of newly discovered or unexploited resources — brown coal, copper, and sulfur. As a result of these policies, the new industries have developed rapidly. According to official figures, the 1971 output in machine building, which accounted for only 7% of gross industrial output in 1950, was 28 times the 1950 level, whereas the output of chemicals, which had accounted for less than 2% of the total output, was 18 times the 1950 level. Although the large prewar industries — hard coal, textiles, and food processing — were relatively neglected during the postwar period and have grown more slowly, they are still as important as the newer sectors and are now receiving increasing attention. The shares of gross output, employment, and fixed capital in various branches of industry are shown in Figure 3, and the growth of gross output by branch is shown in Figure 4. (U/OU)
Poland, like the other Communist countries, experienced difficulties in the mid-1950's as a result of forced growth in heavy industry. It was obliged temporarily to hold down the growth of investment and relax its efforts in heavy industry in order to permit consumption to reach an acceptable level and to allow fuel, power, and raw material production to catch up with industrial requirements. Since 1958, the Polish Government again has maintained a high rate of investment to achieve high rates of industrial growth. This goal has been tempered, however, by concern that consumption should increase at a slow but steady rate and that a balance should be maintained between the production of fuels and other raw materials and the growth of the industrial sectors that consume them. The pattern of Poland's industrial development since 1958 has been geared to export possibilities, to a much greater extent than in the early
| Branch | Gross Output | Employment | Fixed Capital |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electric and thermal power | 2.6% | 2.2% | 12.6% |
| Fuels | 7.8% | 9.7% | 17.6 |
| Ferrous metals | 7.8% | 4.2% | 8.3% |
| Nonferrous metals | 3.3% | 1.4% | 3.2% |
| Machinery and equipment | 26.9% | 31.3% | 15.0% |
| Chemicals | 9.0% | 6.8% | 12.0% |
| Construction materials | 3.3% | 4.7% | 5.9% |
| Wood processing, paper, and paper products | 5.0% | 6.1% | 4.0% |
| Textiles, clothing, leather | 13.2% | 17.9% | 6.5% |
| Food | 17.4% | 11.2% | 9.5% |
| Other | 8.7% | 4.5% | 5.4% |
| Total | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
3
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200070030-5
