Outside interest

The value of foreign direct investment in Poland in H1 2006 reached EUR 4.74, or $6.04 (zł.18.7) billion, says the National Bank of Poland (NBP). The government is hoping that FDI will reach $10 (EUR 7.8, zł.31) billion by the end of this year. Over 80 percent of FDI came from other EU states, and some seven to nine percent arrived from the United States.

"We are facing the second wave of FDI influx to Poland," says Józef Sobota, a member of the board at the NBP. "There are a lot of scattered investments from medium-sized enterprises, which is much better than just a few larger investments," he adds.

In the second half 2006 the Ministry of Economy has so far signed two major contracts - one with Japanese Toshiba and the other with American Dell. Andrzej Kaczmarek, Deputy Economy Minister, says this year the Ministry has 42 contracts to its credit. "We have already signed 25 and there are 17 in the pipeline. We already know how much and how they want to invest," he adds. 

By 2011 the investments will consume over zł.900 million in financial support (investment grants, employment grants and tax rebates). According to Kaczmarek, the Ministry treats the support as an investment because of the huge return. The support will cost the state budget some zł.200 million a year.

The NBP has also released the official results of FDI in 2005, which dropped by 23 percent to EUR 7.7 or $9.8 (zł.30.4) billion following 2004's record EUR 9.98 (zł.39.4) billion, when the country joined the European Union.

Analysts said the latest data indicated that the nation's current political instability caused by the recent break-up of the ruling coalition is not causing foreign investors to turn away from Poland.

Andrzej Kanthak, president of the Polish Information and  Foreign Investment Agency, says Poland doesn't look bad in terms of 2005's FDI value, compared with leaders such as the US with EUR 94 (zł.371) billion, China with EUR 72 (zł.284) billion or Great Britain with EUR 43 (zł.170) billion.