Foreign Investment - Poland

1505 Words4 Pages

Introduction

This report is going to be examining aspects of the Polish economy and its attractiveness for inward investment. I will be using a PEST analysis along with examples to illustrate why business is moving into Poland and the benefits they receive.

Poland joined the European Union (EU) in 2004 after going through transition from communism to a market economy. It has several major industries including agriculture, heavy industry such as coal mining and work with iron and steel along with the production of other consumer goods.

PEST

Political

Poland is a parliamentary republic consisting of two houses, the Sejm or lower house containing 460 members and the Senate or Upper House containing 100 members. There are several things the Polish government is doing in order to improve not just the Polish economy but also the quality of life for its citizens. Some of the areas the Polish are behind most other EU member countries are social services such as health care and education as well as transportation, including roads and railways. They do however realize these shortfalls and there are plans both in place and in the works to help alleviate these problems.

One of the ways the government is looking to change some of the problems facing the public sector is to build a partnership between the private and public where the private sector builds large scale assets such as schools and hospitals in which they lease back to the public sector for a period of up to 30 years. This has proven to work in the UK and Poland has several major projects ranging from housing to railways and hospitals it is interested in reforming in this way.

One of the benefits the Polish government issued since joining the EU to encourage foreign investment is to offer benefits such as low corporate tax rates as low as 19% and in some cases in certain Special Economic Zones income tax exemption and real estate tax exemption.

Economic

Poland’s economy has been consistently growing since its induction into the EU and it is considered one of the strongest economies in Eastern Europe. In 2007, Poland saw a rapid annual growth rate of 6.5% with an industry growth rate at 10%. According to the National Bank of Poland, this growth rate of the GPD is due to investment and consumption.

Open Document