World IN BRIEF : POLAND : Shift to Market Economy Approved

The lower house of Parliament, the Sejm, approved a package of 11 bills to transform Poland into a market-oriented economy, but at the cost of a substantial drop in living standards. The measures amend laws governing banking, credit, unemployment and taxation in an attempt to open the economy to more competition. The package goes into effect Monday. About 400,000 people are expected to be thrown out of work in 1990 as the Solidarity-led government begins to shut down inefficient companies. In other, expected actions, the Parliament adopted legislation eliminating the Communist Party’s constitutional right to a monopoly on political power and renaming the nation the “Republic of Poland.”