Polish Finance Minister Quits Over New Plan

Finance Minister Karol Lutkowski resigned Monday when Prime Minister Jan Olszewski presented the government’s controversial economic program to the nation.

The resignation was a clear vote of no confidence in the new policy, which switches emphasis from the anti-inflationary line of the last two governments to one of stimulating the economy cautiously to overcome recession.

Lutkowski, appointed two months ago, handed in his letter of resignation a day after the government said it wants to pump money into the economy at a rate higher than inflation.

Lutkowski was the fourth senior Finance Ministry official to resign over the program in the past two weeks.

All of them are followers of Leszek Balcerowicz, the former finance minister who masterminded the monetarist policy of the past two years.

Olszewski has so far accepted only one of the resignations, and he told a news conference he would now have talks with Lutkowski. “This issue is not finished yet,” he said.

However, Lutkowski’s spokesman said he resigned because of “a major difference of priorities and implementation of economic strategy” with the rest of the government.

The disagreement highlighted the strains caused in Poland by the deep recession, which has persuaded Olszewski’s government that a change of direction is essential.

Balcerowicz’s “shock therapy” program overcame hyperinflation and laid the groundwork for free-market capitalism.

But it also left 2 million people unemployed, a 30% slump in production and a crisis in public finances.

Olszewski stressed that despite the change in direction his government remains faithful to the philosophy of free-market reform introduced by the first Solidarity government in 1989.