Jarosław Kaczyński, Prime Minister: Poland will be developing fast

Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński’s address, authorised for publication in “Polish Market”, delivered at a meeting with representatives of bilateral chambers of industry and trade, the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency and investors operating in Poland (Nov. 8, 2006)

Prime ministers and other representatives of public authorities have to take the floor in different circumstances: when the situation is good and when it is bad. I am lucky here. I will be discussing issues which are going on favourably now and one can already say that the situation regarding foreign investment is very good in Poland. It is good because the investment volume is increasingly high. On the other hand, one cannot say that the investment level is satisfactory because we would always want more and more investments. However, the PLN10 billion, or perhaps slightly more, which will flow into Poland this year is not a small sum. The situation is good because Poland has been rated third in Europe in terms of attractiveness for foreign investors. And finally, the situation is good because all this is taking place in a context created by decent economic growth, a growth which additionally does not face any major threats. In the 1990s Poland experienced several years of fast economic growth but it was accompanied by a considerably high inflation, a very large foreign trade imbalance (i.e. a very high trade deficit) and an excessive increase in consumption in relation to the economic potential. That growth was to a large extent on credit. At a certain moment the economy slowed down and Poland went through several much more difficult years. Now we have a GDP growth rate of over 5 per cent, and have recorded a huge increase in exports: over the years 2005 and 2006 the growth is expected to exceed 50 per cent. There are no signs indicating that this rate of growth could decline soon. Shortly speaking, the Polish economy has been excellently exploiting the country’s accession to the European Union.

Source:polishmarket.com.pl