The digital and green transformation and improving professional skills of the employees is the key to investment growth in the Polish economy. These are the conclusions from the conference of the European Investment Bank "Investments as an accelerator of changes" held today and attended by Mariusz Jerzy Golecki, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Technology. The issues brought up in the discussion pointed out at the need for energy transformation of the Polish economy and its energy independence from the Russian resources.

The conference, organised by the European Investment Bank, the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology and Warsaw Stock Exchange, was attended by Professor Teresa Czerwińska, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank, and the representatives of financial institutions and entrepreneurs.

The meeting presented the results of the sixth EIB survey on the investments in Poland. This survey has been conducted by the bank on an annual basis and aims at collecting information on the investment activity, financing requirements and challenges faced by smaller and larger enterprises. The survey has been carried out in each Member State.

Encouraging the entrepreneurs to initiate and expand the investments will contribute to stable development of the Polish economy – creating new jobs and improving comfort of life in Poland. This is why we have prepared a number of measures encouraging the entrepreneurs to invest. These include among others – the Polish Investment Zone and the Programme for supporting investments of significant importance to the Polish economy for the years 2011-2030

– said Mariusz Jerzy Golecki, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Technology.

Record foreign investments in Poland

Poland has been among the most attractive locations of foreign direct investments (FDI) for years – as the globally distinguishing country and the regional leader. Despite the subsequent waves of pandemic, 2021 was a record year in terms of inflow of FDIs (EUR 27.9 billion i.e. +84% y/y) and the investments managed by the Polish Investment and Trade Agency (with the support of the Agency, the foreign companies invested in Poland more than EUR 3.5 billion i.e. by EUR 0.8 billion more compared to the previous year). Vast majority of FDIs in Poland are reinvested profits, which demonstrates loyalty of the investors towards our market.

“The Polish economy is stable, while Poland is a safe country for investments”

– stressed Deputy Minister Mariusz Golecki during the conference.

Role of EIB in the investment growth in Poland

Deputy Minister Golecki emphasized the role of the European Investment Bank in supporting sustainable economic growth both in the EU and non-EU Member States.

The InvestEU programme creates the opportunity to boost the funds for sustainable investments in Europe. In long-term perspective, this programme focuses on the areas of key importance for both the EU and Polish policy i.e. development of sustainable infrastructure, research, innovation and digitisation and supporting the SMEs operation

– said Deputy Minister Mariusz Jerzy Golecki.

Golecki pointed out that at least 30 percent of funds under the InvestEU programme will be allocated to the projects focused on mitigating climate change and adaptation in order to support green transformation of Europe.

Improved environment for business activity

Poland has been attracting the foreign investors with its assets for years and intends to support this trend by the following initiatives – reducing the barriers for the new projects, supporting innovations improving the capacity of already used resources and implementation and propagation of trainings to provide the employees with the opportunity to gain and master their skills.

As emphasized by the conference participants during the panel dedicated to supporting the investments in Poland, solving the structural concerns continues to be the key to maintain growth and complete transformation. The discussion was attended by Sandrine Croset, Director of the Operations Directorate in the European Investment Bank responsible for Baltic States and Northern Europe, Mariusz Golecki, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Technology, Leszek Skiba, President of the Management Board of Bank Pekao SA and Tomasz Robaczynski, Member of the Management Board of the Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego.

Deputy Miniter Golecki pointed out that the decisive factor for economic development is the efficiency increase.

What matters, is not only how much we invest but how we invest. Poland is one of the leaders of economic efficiency growth. Since 2004, labour productivity per capita in our country has been increasing three times faster compared with the European Union. This is one of the best results

– emphasized the Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Technology during the debate.

He noted that economic development requires the adequate framework conditions to conduct business activity. The Ministry of Economic Development and Technology has taken the measures to ensure the enterprises’ growth, including among others transparent and stable rules of operation, market competitiveness, well-developed infrastructure and availability of highly skilled staff.

Green transformation and energy independence of the Polish economy

Facing the recent events taking place in Ukraine, green transformation of the economy has gained the new dimension. The most urgent challenge is to make the Polish economy independent from the energy resources imported from Russia

– said the Deputy Minister.

According to the Deputy Minister, this approach is justified by geopolitical reasons, as affecting Russia’s warfare capacity, and by development reasons – as mitigating the exposure of our economy to price shocks on the energy resource and emission allowance markets.

This requires the measures towards diversification of supplies on one hand and towards greening the economy on the other hand, including by increasing the energy efficiency and decreasing its dependency from fossil fuels. The Deputy Minister pointed out at the need to invest in the LNG terminals and transmission infrastructure, modernisation of power grids, construction of infrastructure for electrified transport, energy efficiency of the buildings, implementation of the new technological solutions in the energy sector (small nuclear reactors, green hydrogen) and development of the new renewable energy sources.

Minister Golecki stressed also the need for the optimised use of available energy resources and development of circular economy.

Employee development

Progressing digitisation and automation and switching towards green economy will change demand for professional skills.

The changes to the production methods, implementation of Industry 4.0 solutions, propagation of on-line services, transition to home offices and providing public services by e-administration have been currently unfolding before our very eyes

– listed the Deputy Minister.

The employers have been increasingly frequently searching for employees with know-how and skills of technological designing and programming. The key role in this process should be played by so called life-long learning among the adults, which involves permanent education to gain new skills and qualifications.

In context of increasing demand for new employees, Mariusz Jerzy Golecki stressed also the need to activate the unemployed and streamlining the employee flow from less to more productive sectors of the economy.

Role of EIB in economic development of the EU states

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the institution of the European Union belonging to its Member States. It provides long-term funding for the key investment contributing to implementation of the EU policy objectives. The Bank finances the projects in four priority areas – infrastructure, innovation, climate and environment and the SMEs. In 2020, the EIB Group funded the Polish projects of the value of EUR 5.2 billion.