100 years ago, Poland regained independence, but its economic success started only 30 years ago. Neither the Second Polish Republic after World War I, nor the socialist People’s Republic of Poland after World War II managed to significantly increase standard of living compared to the USA.
Decentralization in Poland was implemented in two stages – in 1990 and in 1999. The early reforms passed down central government tasks as well as some revenue-raising authority, giving it limited autonomy regarding real estate taxes, local fees, and other minor taxes.
Apart from modern enterprises competing in international markets, there are more small enterprises of very low productivity in Poland than in developed countries. FOR estimates that half of Polish GDP is produced by at most 5.6 million people.
In his first parliamentary speech, PM Mateusz Morawiecki repeated many theses of the government. Some of them are wrong and contradict the experiences of other countries. Others, while right, stand in clear contradiction with the actual actions of the Polish government.
The Law and Justice Party (PiS) has been using state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to push for changes in the justice system that are detrimental to rule of law, economic growth, and civil liberties. At the same time, SOEs saved the Polish Mining Group (PGG) from bankruptcy.
Lowering the retirement age is contrary to the plan of Mateusz Morawiecki, Minister of Economy, which rightly linked in one of the documents the decline in working-age population with a slowdown in economic growth. It will put a drag on catching up with the Western Europe’s living standards.
The proposed restrictions to posting of workers disproportionally hit the poorer Member States from Eastern and Southern Europe. However, these countries should not push for retaliatory regulations to protect their home markets, but to block “equal pay for equal work in the same place” and further liberalise trade in services.
Polish economy needs less regulation and more investment, which has been noticed even in the speeches of Deputy Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Therefore, Law and Justice’s policy regarding pharmacies is in contradiction to the Polish government’s declarations and plans to promote higher economic growth.
Taking a loan in a foreign currency puts both borrowers and banks at risk. At the time of signing the contract, both providers and takers neglected the possible weakening of Polish zloty, believing in its further strengthening. Besides the fact that one can easily learn about it from various sources, the majority of borrowers knew that such a danger exists.
