Leszek Balcerowicz
Is a Polish economist, the former chairman of the National Bank of Poland and Deputy Prime Minister in Tadeusz Mazowiecki\'s government. He is famous for implementing the Polish economic transformation program in the 1990s, a shock therapy commonly referred to as the Balcerowicz Plan. Born January 19, 1947 in Lipno. In 1970 he graduated with distinction from the Foreign Trade faculty of the Central School of Planning and Statistics in Warsaw (now the Warsaw School of Economics). Balcerowicz received his MBA from St. John\'s University in New York, in 1974 and doctorate from the Warsaw School of Economics in 1975. From September 1989 to August 1991 and also between October 31, 1997 and June 8, 2000 he held the positions of Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Poland. Between 1995 and 2000 he was the chairman of Freedom Union, then a centrist political party. On December 22, 2000 he became the Chairman of the National Bank of Poland. On November 11, 2005, the President of Poland, Aleksander KwaĹniewski, awarded L. Balcerowicz with the country\'s highest decoration, the Order of the White Eagle, for his contribution to Poland\'s economic transformation. The Balcerowicz Plan was a series of reforms, which sought to end hyperinflation and balance the national budget. The prices of most consumer goods were freed and caps for annual increases established in state-sector employees\' wages. Poland\'s currency, the ZĹoty was made convertible within the country\'s borders. This resulted in a substantial increase in prices and had forced state-owned companies to become competitive. This amounted to a real shock to the Polish economy.
The reforms were controversial and made Balcerowicz an object of harsh criticism, especially in his homeland. On the other hand most economists agree that without introducing such radical changes, Poland\'s economic success and steady economic growth would not have been possible. Since 1989, Poland\'s annual growth rate was one of the highest of all post-Communist economies, and has not entered economic recession.
