Dividend payments send €7.8 billion abroad

About one half of the profits of foreign companies is paid out to shareholders as dividends. Last year, this amounted to €7.8 billion. Dividends travel mainly to the Netherlands, Germany and Luxembourg. The amount of dividends paid out to companies registered in Luxembourg tripled last year. Companies registered in a given country are often there due to favorable tax legislation (including Polish companies), as is the case with many firms in the Netherlands or Luxembourg, as reported in Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. Polish Business Council chief economist Janusz Jankowiak said, "an increasingly greater amount of profits goes to shareholders and this is a global trend." He further commented that this is not beneficial as it lowers the tendency to invest. Polish firms operating abroad earned €400 million last year. Of this amount €150 million were dividend payments.