Gross Domestic Product

The process of transformation of the Polish economy [presented in the previous chapters] and the recession, which touched almost all areas of the economy, entailed altogether a significant decline in the value of the gross domestic product (GDP). The data on the dynamics of GDP, put together on the basis of information published by GUS [Central Statistical Office] for the period 1989-91 as well as on the basis of RECESS's [Research Centre for Economic and Statistical Studies] own estimates for 1992, are shown in Table 1. It seems necessary, before commenting on the data presented in Table 1, to make some remarks concerning the calculation of GDP in the period being considered. The process of the transformation of the economy requires the adaptation of the system of statistical information to the changes taking place. Small businesses, which are emerging in large numbers, are not included in routine statistical reporting; the sphere of unregistered economic activity is expanding; there are cracks in the system of customs and tax control-all these factors require the establishment of new methods and forms of organizing statistical research. This applies equally to the organs of state statistics (e.g., researching the economic activity of small businesses, the establishment and use of registers of economic agents) and other state agencies (e.g., the need for the creation of effectively functioning tax registers and social-insurance registers). The totality of factors connected with the imperfection of the present system of statistical information ultimately