Poland – Economic Review

Recently, economies around the world have been struggling to deal with the uncertainties that come with economics; China’s market growth, which was previously rapid, is starting to slow and western brands are finding it hard to enter the market, Brazil are struggling as well as Russia as a reduction in oil prices and sanctions have limited growth opportunities. Many businesses are struggling to find out where the profitable markets are and how long they will stay profitable for.

Poland is no exception to this and have been in the news a lot recently as their newly elected ‘Law and Justice Party’ plan to introduce many changes to the country including new benefits and the removal of media companies run by heads of state; they have also been in a few well-documented disagreements with the European Union. This has caused quite a stir to politicians of the opposition as well as around Europe who are far more used to a quieter run country with the previous government which lasted for eight years.

However, perhaps Poland is an exception to the uncertainty as demand is still as high as ever in what is now Europe’s fastest growing economy. Poland’s banking sector is financially sound, which is more than can be said for many other countries around Europe. They even managed to keep on growing through the recession of 2009 when even the biggest European markets crumbled and banks were bailed out. The successful and stable banking sector looks as though it will continue to help businesses to grow as exports, in 2014, reached nearly £150 billion and the amount is set to exceed this in 2015. The UK, Poland’s second biggest export market, plays a vital role in helping medium-sized businesses to grow providing support, products and parts and this is set to continue into the future.

Poland is now ranked in 25th position when it comes to their ease-of-doing business which is 47 places higher than just six years ago; this ranking is the best of all the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) members. Corporation Tax is set to be reduced by 4% to 15% which will further increase their presence in the market as they become more attractive to businesses.

Poland’s market remains strong with 38 million people which happens to be the eighth largest population in the EU. The average wage in the country does remain a lot lower than the European average but they have an emerging middle class and consumer spending is now up to £45 billion. Unemployment levels are also looking positive as they sit just above 7% which is a significant decrease from 19% just a decade ago. Poland also remains as one of the largest receivers of EU funds until at least 2020 as they are set to gain £60 billion to be used on a variety of sectors including infrastructure, healthcare, technology and energy efficiency.

Of course, Poland has its problems that any business would have to overcome but this is the same for any country. Despite this, Poland looks set to continue as possibly the most stable economy in Europe for the foreseeable future.

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