Tanács-talanul a keleti piacon

The article reviews the causes, circumstances and consequences of the disorder which has emerged in the wake of the switch to freecurrency transactions between the former CMEA-countries. In the first quarter of 1991 the trend to barter as proposed by enterprises was to result in a turnover equal to or even exceeding the previous year's level, but events took a different turn owing mainly to uncertainties caused by the collapse of the Soviet economy and by the Soviet political struggles abounding in shifts, and ultimately to the insolvency of the Soviet Union, with a drop in Hungárián—Soviet trade flows by half or even to one-third being a real danger now. As both the old and the new Government of Hungary entertained illusions, refraining from taking a clear stand and effective action, the responsibility falls on them for enterprises piling errors upon errors and for the disproportionate losses resulting therefrom.