OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 136, 16 JULY 1996

POLISH PUBLIC OPINION ON NATO. Poles want to join NATO but do not want
to pay for it, according to a poll conducted by the Public Opinion
Research Center (CBOS) earlier this month. Of the respondents, 83% are
in favor of Poland joining NATO and concede that membership would mean
large expenditures. Only 23%, however, want to reduce other budget
expenditures to meet the cost of membership, Gazeta Wyborcza reported on
16 July. The daily also reported that according to data published by the
U.S. Information Agency, 9% of Hungarians, 8% of Czechs, and 7% of
Slovaks approve of using public funds to bring their armies up to NATO
standards. -- Jakub Karpinski

HUNGARY PREDICTS LARGE SOCIAL INSURANCE DEFICIT. Hungarian officials
estimate that the pension and health insurance funds could run up a
deficit totaling 68 billion forints ($453 million) by the end of the
year, Magyar Hirlap reported on 16 July. That figure is almost four
times higher than the amount stipulated earlier this year as a condition
for an IMF $387 million standby credit. Both pension and health
insurance officials blame the deficit on the failure to collect debts
and contributions. Since the departure of former Finance Minister Lajos
Bokros, who was a strong advocate of social welfare reform, his
successor, Peter Medgyessy, has failed to come up with a plan to reform
social insurance and tackle the social insurance deficit. -- Zsofia
Szilagyi

[As of 12:00 CET]

Compiled by Jan Cleave