The aim of this paper is to estimate the costs of banking sector restructuring in Poland, borne by the government and the central bank in the years 1993-2006. The authors focused mainly on the assistance measures that directly contributed to generating costs. Aggregated costs of the banking sector restructuring borne in the years 1993-2006 by public bodies amounted to 18.6 billion zloty (22.4 billion zloty in 2006 prices), corresponding to 2.61% of the annual GDP. The largest costs related to the tools employed in the banking sector restructuring process were those of servicing restructuring bonds allocated by the State Treasury to finance threatened banks (over 80% of total costs). The largest share of assistance went to state-owned banks, i.e. 90.3% in current prices. Total costs of banking sector restructuring in Poland are not high when compared to such costs in other transition countries.

Keywords: banking sector restructuring, banking crises, fiscal costs, financial stability.

  Adam Pawlikowski, Dobromił Serwa, The Costs of Banking Sector Restructuring in Poland - plik pdf; (317 KB)