Poland reaping fruits of joining EU

Three waitresses dish out waffle cones topped with scoops of strawberry, lemon and apple gelato as fast as they can at the Cafe Rialto.

Even on chilly days, the line stretches out the door, one more sign of Poland's economic boom that is putting cash in people's pockets and whetting appetites for everything from upscale ice cream to sleek plasma TVs.

Increasing demand spurred Robert Buerger, who opened his cafe in 2001, to invest $33,600 in a new gelato mixer in March. He employs nine workers and plans to open a second ice cream parlor sometime this year.

"People have more money to spend and are more open to spending it," Buerger said.

Three years after Poland's inclusion in the European Union gave its economy an initial kick out of its doldrums and opened the doors to Polish exports, investment and domestic demand have taken the lead in driving the country's robust growth.

Poland's economy expanded at a 7.4 percent annual rate in the first three months of the year, the best since 7.6 percent in the second quarter of 1997. That comes after a healthy 6.7 percent for 2006 that outpaced the euro zone's 2.7 percent.

Economists say more jobs are putting money in people's pockets, and more spending is spurring businesses to expand.

"Everything is in the right place," says Mateusz Szczurek, the chief economist for ING Bank Slaski in Warsaw.

After the lean years of the early 2000s, when the economy stagnated and unemployment soared to a post-communist high of 20.7 percent, Poland is benefiting from the fastest investment growth in a decade, analysts say.

Marta Petka, an analyst at Raiffeisen Bank in Warsaw, said the expansion started when Poland joined the EU in 2004.

"And then exports gave a push to the next growth locomotive: investment," Petka said.

International giants such as Sharp Corp., Toshiba Corp. and LG.Philips LCD Co. have set up manufacturing plants.

Across the country, companies large and small are pumping funds into new projects, helping to cut the EU's highest jobless rate to an estimated 13.1 percent in May.
Source:biznes.onet.pl