Voices of optimism

Paweł Wojciechowski, president of the board at Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency

Poland has not lost the trust of foreign investors. If investors are withdrawing, it is only their short-term capital, while there is no signal of losing long-term capital. It has nothing to do with Poland's economic fundamentals, but rather with the financial liquidity of those companies. Poland has limited means in steering through the crisis because there are global conditions we are dependent upon. But there are many things we do have influence on, such as reducing interest rates.

Ludwik Sobolewski, CEO of the Warsaw Stock Exchange

I see an opportunity in this crisis. It lies in convincing foreign investors that Poland really differs from the rest of the CEE countries, especially the Baltic states, Hungary and Ukraine, and consistently showing them our better economic fundamentals. In this case, we need to distance ourselves from regional solidarity and get rid of this CEE ballast.

While 2008 was the worst for the WSE in terms of listings and prices, it was the best in the region in terms of capitalization of the listed companies' values. We outgrew bourses in Vienna, Athens and Dublin. While there were practically no IPOs this year [on those bourses], [the WSE] had 26 debuts on the main floor. Despite some newspaper stories, there was no panic on the WSE, we haven't even considered closing the WSE, as occurred abroad. There also was no need of suspending any company's listing. If we expect GDP to drop from 4.8 percent to even three percent, it will not be a drama, just a slowdown.

Henryka Bochniarz, president of the Polish Confederation of Private Employers Lewiatan

The year 2009 will be worse, but it will still be better [in Poland] than anywhere else. At a recent conference of employers' organizations, I was an exception among others when I mentioned the economic situation in Poland.

Our country benefits from a very conservative economic structure where small and medium-sized firms use little outside financing. Ninety percent of the private sector is made up of small and medium-sized companies, mainly family firms. Now is the time when these companies can finally think about planning for the future, rather than just thinking about how to survive at the moment.

To use this crisis as an opportunity, the government and entrepreneurs have to join forces. Prime Minister Tusk should show how Poland is different and send out a clear message in Brussels, presenting hard evidence and inviting investors to Poland. We witnessed in Gdańsk [during the 25th anniversary celebrations for Lech Wałęsa's Nobel Peace Prize] that the climate around Poland is great. Let's benefit from it.

Witold Orłowski, economist advisor at Pricewaterhouse-Coopers Poland

Poland is the only country these days where financial supervision would recommend sudden and drastic changes of mortgage policies for banks. I would rather expect the government to send out a clear signal abroad so the banks' central offices would unblock the tightened financing policy for entrepreneurs.

Frankly, I am happy that this crisis, caused by outside factors, is taking place now. If it came in two years, real estate would be 40 percent more expensive, banks would start to provide sub-prime mortgages, and the recession would be more dramatic.