The Polish economy has become a regional power
“The wave of change reflects how Poland’s economy has become a $1 trillion regional power,” the agency said, noting that when Poland joined European Union in 2004, Germany’s gross domestic product per capita was more than four times higher. However, this difference is decreasing. Currently German GDP per capita is approximately twice as high as in Poland. At the same time, slow economic growth in Germany, Europe’s largest economy, has created acquisition opportunities for Polish companies that have accumulated resources in the country.
Additionally, as the data shows central bank in Warsawforeign direct investment in Poland has slowed down due to geopolitical threats, higher energy prices and changes in the IT industry.
“The Poles are coming”
Prime Minister Donald Tusk last week he quoted German media that announced that “the Poles are coming.” “See how this term has changed over the last 30 years,” he wrote on Platform X. “The German press reports that Polish companies are increasingly taking over recognized Western brands, and not the other way around,” he emphasized.
Challenges for Poland
However, this process revealed one of Poland’s weaknesses, Bloomberg emphasized. Nowhere in Europe has so much foreign investment been attracted in the IT, finance and human resources sectors. Poland now seems more vulnerable to the threat of automation through the development of artificial intelligence. Wages have also skyrocketed, meaning Warsaw is losing the advantage it had as a provider of cheap services.
The agency notes that for eight years in power, the openly anti-German Law and Justice party has been demanding war reparations for World War II. However, Bloomberg notes, since regaining independence in 1918, Poland has never been richer, nor has its influence been so significant. Over more than two decades of EU membership, it has received more net funding per person than any other country, and its gross national product has more than tripled. The economy grew by 3.6 percent last year. compared to 0.2 percent in Germany.
Poland like South Korea
Bloomberg quotes the opinion of Dominik Kopiński from the Polish Economic Institute in Warsaw, in his opinion Poland’s level of development is beginning to resemble that previously observed in South Korea. Takeovers by Polish companies indicate that Poland is no longer an emerging market, he said. The difference is that Poles are more motivated by the desire to gain market share than by acquiring new technologies.
The agency notes that the growing number of transactions also reflects the changing attitude of a new generation of entrepreneurs. He argues that the early expansion activities of Polish clothing chains ended in failure due to the lack of experience in contacts with consumers in markets such as Germany, Austria or Great Britain. Currently, however, Polish CEOs are inclined to gain a foothold abroad by taking over companies that already have an established position in a given market.
