FDI inflows falling with regional competitors doing more to attract in vestors

Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into Poland are expected to fall to between $6 billion and $7 billion this year and next, from $10.6 billion in 2000. The prediction follows the publication of data for the first half of the year that shows FDI in Poland falling as a result of the global e conomic slowdown. According to Foreign Investment Agency (PAIZ) president Adam Pawlowicz, Poland attracted $3.2 billion in FDI inflows in the first six months of the year, down from $3.7 billion in the first half of 2000. Since the fall of communism in 1989, Poland has attracted a total of $52.3 billion in FDI, the highest in Eastern Europe. However, Pawlowicz believes that other countries in the region are now doing more to lure foreign investors. "In order to attract investors, it is necessary to develop the infrastructure, and this is unfortunately something that the Czechs are doing better right now," he said. (Gazeta Wyborcza, Sept. 29-30, p. 25) T.J.