'Investments are the future of the Polish economy': EIB

Poland's investment priorities in the time of the Covid-19 pandemic in the light of digitization and the fight against climate change were the main topic of today's expert conference with the participation of Jarosław Gowin, Vice-President of the Council of Ministers, Minister of Development, Labor and Technology, Teresa Czerwińska, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank, as well as leading figures of the business world, representatives of financial institutions and entrepreneurs.

The conference presented the results of the fifth EIB investment survey for Poland (available in English at: https://www.eib.org/en/publications/econ-eibis-2020-poland). It is an annual survey conducted by the European Union Bank to gather qualitative and quantitative information on investment activity, funding requirements, and the challenges faced by both smaller and larger companies.

"Investments are the foundations for the future and innovation of the Polish economy. The future winners will be those countries that will use the difficult time of the pandemic for deep changes and reforms," Jarosław Gowin, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Development, Labor and Technology, said. 

A survey conducted by the EIB showed that despite the pandemic and fears for the future, Polish entrepreneurs do not shy away from innovation – 46 percent have implemented new services, processes and products last year (EU average – 42 percent), and 20 percent declare introducing innovation on a national scale and even the world (EU average – 15 percent).

The EIB study also looked at companies' perceptions of climate change and how to combat it. Polish entrepreneurs pay attention to this problem – 60 percent of them notice that climate change affects their activities (EU average – 58 percent) and they invest or intend to invest in activities limiting the impact of weather events or reducing carbon dioxide emissions. At the same time, however, they do it to a lesser extent than in the entire EU (60 percent in Poland compared to 67 percent in the entire European Union).

(WBJ)