While investments around the world have dropped sharply amid the coronavirus pandemic, Poland has seen a rise in foreign investment projects this year, according to fDi Intelligence, a data division of the Financial Times group.
In the first four months of 2020, there were 165 new foreign direct investments in the country – 20 more than in the same period last year, a 14% rise – reports Rzeczpospolita.
Poland continues to draw most foreign investors to real estate. However, interest is also growing around renewable energy, with the number of new projects in the first four months of the year jumping from 1 to 16. Notable examples include Vestas, a Danish turbines manufacturer, and Innogy, a German energy company, investing in wind farms in Poland, reports Money.pl.
Meanwhile the number of foreign investments around the world has slumped by 45% this year, relative to last year. Some of the largest drops include 61% in the UK, 60% in Germany and 63% in China. FDi Intelligence pins the global drop on uncertainty and restrictions on economic activity due to coronavirus outbreaks, reports Rzeczpospolita.
FDI activity hits record lows in April #fDiIndex #covid19 https://t.co/2WIrMSBhcB pic.twitter.com/Cs4M9p3Rf1
— fDi Intelligence (@fDiIntelligence) June 2, 2020
In 2019, Poland was the third biggest destination for investment coming into Europe. Foreign investors last year announced financing for 373 greenfield projects – meaning completely new investments – in Poland, together worth $21.8 billion.
Only the UK ($32.3 billion) and Russia ($23.6 billion) attracted more new financing, while Poland was followed by Germany ($19.2 billion), Spain ($19.1 billion) and France ($15.7 billion).
Poland continues to attract investment with its sizeable domestic market, access to cheap labour and raw materials and wide array of subcontractors. Yet, a number of obstacles have also worked to reduce investor appetite, including growing labour costs, underdeveloped infrastructure, lack of green energy, and politicisation of the court system.
Main image credits: Filip Bramorski/Flickr (under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Maria Wilczek is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She is a regular writer for The Times, The Economist and Al Jazeera English, and has also featured in Foreign Policy, Politico Europe, The Spectator and Gazeta Wyborcza.
