The Polish government's decision in May of 2011 to transfer two-thirds of the cash in the Open Retirement Funds (OFE)'s to individual accounts in the state-run Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) has created a hidden public debt of zł.17.7 billion, which official statistics don't show, according to the Civil Development Forum (FOR).

Poland's public debt at the end of Q2, 2012 came up to zł.842.7 billion, meaning that in a year the country's debt increased by zł.56.7 billion, according to official data from the Finance Ministry.

According to economists, however, the increase in debt would have been much higher if it wasn't for changes the government made to the way the statistics are calculated.The data published by the Finance Ministry does not take into account many other liabilities the government has, and which taxpayers will still have to pay off.

Poland A.M.