A new government plan to speed up Polish economy

Mateusz Morawiecki, Polish Minister of Development, announced a plan for Polish development for the years to come, the Plan for Responsible Development, already dubbed by the media “Morawiecki Plan”. The strategy just got the government’s approval.

The plan is to gear up Polish economy to reach new levels and to build grounds for growth even after the EU funds are cut back, which will happen after 2020. The government’s intention is to bring about higher living standards.

The Ministry of Development identified five areas that need to be worked upon and the pitfalls that are lurking ahead.

Polish GDP per capita is still low in comparison with Western economies and salaries stay way below the EU average. Another issue is heavy dependence on foreign investment.

Low R&D and lack of innovation are also an issue. So are loopholes in the tax law and insufficient coordination between different state institutions. Finally, demographic changes will have strong negative impact on the country in the upcoming years.

The answers to these perils are, according to Minister Morawiecki, re-industrialization, increase of innovativeness, raising capital, expansion abroad, actions towards social and regional development and efficient public institutions.

The government want Polish businesses to expand with the assistance of the state. A document called “Constitution for Business” was announced. New provisions will ease cooperation between the government institutions and entrepreneurs, limit legal barriers hampering business and make running a business much easier from the formal point of view.

Among the planned projects are a new act on innovation, creation of Polish Development Fund as well as a comprehensive demographic programme. The state will focus on helping these regions and municipalities which fall behind when it comes to economic growth.

By 2020, the government hopes to have 2% of Polish GDP assigned to innovation, while investment is to reach the level of 25% of GDP. What is aimed for, is strong economy and efficient public institutions.

The announcement of the Plan for Responsible Development was met with mostly positive reaction. It is believed that state experts correctly identified the challenges Poland will be forced to face in the coming years.

However, some commentators point out that the presented information was very general and lacked details. It is not yet clear how the Ministry is going to get the capital for implementing the plan.