Polish debt per capita reaches dizzy heights?
PR dla Zagranicy
John Beauchamp
13.09.2011 10:07
The public debt counter in the heart of Warsaw’s centre yesterday reached 790.7 billion zloty (182.6 billion euro), translating to around 20.8 thousand zloty of debt for every Pole.
However, according to the Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily, the real debt is in fact a lot larger, as the counter only shows the official borrowings of the Polish state from banks, as well as bonds.
Other hidden debts create a per capita debt of around 80,000 zloty, almost four times as much as the official debt recorded by the electronic counter.
The daily writes that the major hidden debt is directly connected to funds allocated to Poland’s pension system.
According to figures prepared for Dziennik Gazeta Prawna by ZUS - the state social insurance company - future pensioners have 2.07 trillion zloty at their disposal; yet only on paper, as the sum has already been paid out to current pensioners.
Such debt, which is not recognised in the official counter, amounts to some 53,000 zloty per citizen, not including the official debt already recorded at over 20,000 zloty. (jb)