Crisis plan, but no concretes

Stimulating growth of consumer and investment demand and increasing financing for SMEs are the major objectives of a plan published by the Ministry of Economy in late January aimed at promoting stability and development in the face of the global economic slowdown.

The ministry's zł.91.3-billion strategy looks to make it easier to finance companies' activities by increasing guarantee limits, offering support to financial institutions and speeding up EU-funded investments. Reduction of the tax burden on R&D expenditures and for newly established companies are other measures proposed by the Economy Ministry. The ministry also wants to intensify efforts to draw new investors to Poland.

"The current economic situation forces [us] to implement additional tools to support investors and incentives to invest in Poland," according to the project.

The project is a part of the governmental "Stability and Development Plan," anounced in December. It is currently being discussed by the Tripartite Commission for Social and Economic Affairs.

The ministry's plan is economy-friendly in its intentions and the major postulates of the draft had long been demanded by entrepreneurs, according to the Polish Chamber of Commerce (KIG).

But businesses expected more detailed solutions, coherent with the national budget and the economic policy of the government. Meanwhile, the draft contains hardly any concrete proposals, and a number of postulates are too general to assess their content at all, KIG said in a statement.

"We expected that a detailed program of activities of particular sectors would be presented rather than the working draft of the activities by the Economy Ministry," KiG's president Andrzej Arendarski said, stressing that since December's announcement of the "Stability and Development Plan" the government has had several weeks to prepare a detailed plan.

Steps to be taken by the Economy Ministry to increase investment demand as part of the Stability and Development Plan

1. Improvement of fund-distribution procedures for the operational programs
2. Further improvement of accessibility to financing sources for entrepreneurs
3. Facilitating access for entrepreneurs to EU promotion projects within the European market
4. Facilitating certification required for businesses in foreign markets
5. Facilitating access to projects aimed at promotion of sales in the European market
6. Financial support for exporters
7. Creation of a complex system of promotion of the Polish economy
8. Development of the branches of the Polish economy via realization of activity 6.5 of the Innovative Economy 2007-2013 Operational Program
9. Enabling access for entrepreneurs to the information services on export and foreign operations
10. Greater accessibility to the systems of support for strategic branches
11. Increasing the attractiveness of Special Economic Zones
12. Promotion of Public-Private Partnerships
13. Providing support for foreign investors
14. Eliminating legal barriers to the realization of investments in energy
15. Greater exploitation of renewable energy resources
16. Support for energy companies in their investments in countries to the east of Poland
17. Reduction of the tax burden
18. Facilitating initiatives aimed at the improvement of energy efficiency
19. Creation of a pro-ecology legislative package to stimulate domestic demand for new cars

Source: Ministry of Economy

Konrad Kiedrzyński