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PAIiIZ performance in 2008 and plans for 2009
( 17 / February / 2009 )
In 2008 PAIiIZ acquired 56 new foreign investments and thus closed the year with a result similar to the one achieved in 2007. In 2009 Poland should take advantage of efficiency-oriented businesses and investors interested in lowering investment costs.
The conference was attended by Janusz Jankowiak, chief economist at the Polska Rada Biznesu; Paweł Wojciechowski, PAIiIZ President and Bohdan Wyżnikiewicz, ice President of The Gdańsk Institute for Market Economics. (Author: Bartosz Kolb, PAIiIZ)
In 2008 the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency realised 56 investment projects from 17 countries. The projects were jointly worth 1.5 billion EUR. The greatest number of projects was realised in the BPO sector (21) and the automotive industry (14). By comparison in 2007 PAIiIZ closed 57 projects of a joint value of 1.3 billion EUR. PAIiIZ’s statistics show no sign of slump in investors’ interest in greenfield investment.
Among the major projects managed in 2008 there are investments realized by the following companies: Lafarge from France (construction sector, 115 million EUR, 625 jobs), Credit Suisse from Switzerland (BPO sector, 8.3 million EUR, 500 jobs), Cadbury from the UK (food sector, 256.7 million EUR, 750 jobs), Jabil from the USA (electronic sector, 20 million EUR, 600 jobs), City from the UK (BPO sector, 7.5 million EUR, 500 jobs) SWS Group from Ireland (BPO sector, 1 million EUR, 370 jobs) Lenovo Technology B.V. from China (electronic sector, 4 million EUR, 1276 jobs).
Undoubtedly the USA continues on the leading position among investors in the country (12 projects) with Germany on the 2nd (6 projects) and Japan coming 3rd with 5 projects realised. Data collected by the Agency allows to conclude that PAIiIZ specialised in attracting projects from the BPO sector - last year as many as 21 investments from the industry were completed. The automotive sector constitutes the second major category of investments attracted to the country.
Dynamic economic situation makes it difficult to produce viable economic forecasts of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow to Poland in 2009. Factors shaping the level of forecast reliability include: the National Bank’s of Poland (NBP) FDI inflow projections, the volume of investment declarations resulting from projects managed by the Agency and the macroeconomic situation, currently in a rather unstable shape. Against this backdrop the estimated FDI inflow in 2009 may be expected to hover at the level of 7 to10 billion EUR. - In the current downturn Poland stands a good chance to attract efficiency-oriented businesses. - said Paweł Wojciechowski, PAIiIZ President at the conference devoted to the Agency’s performance in 2008. The weakening złoty makes investment costs in Poland fall and thus attract investors from sectors like the BPO or food industry who opt for transferring enterprises to Poland. The country is still attractive for investors on a cost-cutting drive cinsidering lower production costs vital to go through the crisis.
PAIiIZ