Wroclaw better than Moscow

The capital of Dolny Slask (Lower Silesia region) was given an "A minus" rating, by the Fitch ratings agency. This means that Wroc³aw has received the highest achievable assessment in Poland. Such a rating in the country, is only shared by Katowice and Poznan.

This is a very good sign for both investors and the residents. In the course of recent years the assessment has twice been increased. Even Moscow has a lower rating than Wroclaw.
The rating depends on assessing creditworthiness. It is commissioned by the city itself, to give credence to its financial efficiency. Fitch, a major firm in the rankings market, analysed Wroclaw’s budget, investment expenditure, level of unemployment and the health service. The City’s authorities anticipate that the positive economic climate will continue. Only larger expenditures on investment may vary – if the state decides against financing Euro 2012 and Expo 2010. However, the government of Wroc³aw has assured that it will maintain these at a responsible level.

Source: Gazeta Wroclawska

Poland’s attractiveness as beheld by German investors

Investing in Poland is becoming for German Investors increasingly attractive – it appeared in this year’s assessment of the economic situation, carried out by the Polish-German Industry & Trade Chamber.

The number of investors that would again decide to start businesses activities in Poland, grew in comparison to last year’s survey of the economic climate in business by over 15%. More than half of those surveyed had last year increased their business investment, encouraged by the positive economic assessments of Poland. Over 60% of those surveyed are of the opinion, that this situation has improved, and also that the strong growth in Polish GDP will be maintained throughout 2007. Since last year, the conditions for activities in the field of R&D have also improved.
In terms of attractiveness for investment, Poland has shared first place with Germany, however all the other countries of the region have been less attractive for investors than China. An undoubted influence on this assessment has also been Poland’s membership of the EU.

The positive business environment has an effect on new work places – over half the respondents intend to increase employment this year. German employers rate Polish workers highly, mainly for their involvement, qualifications and productivity. Meanwhile the availability of equally, highly qualified, as unqualified staff, is in the opinion of investors inadequate. Apparently they also have a negative opinion of the political instability, the changing nature of the law and the lack of effectiveness in public administration.
In the survey there took part 128 entrepreneurs, operating in Poland and Germany.

Source: Polish-German Industry & Trade Chamber www.ihk.pl/i

"The attractiveness of investment in Europe in 2007" - survey of Ernst&Young

Poland is in the seventh place in the world in terms of the attractiveness for foreign investors – it was shown from Ernst&Young’s survey: “The attractiveness of investment in Europe in 2007”.
Prime position in the rankings is taken by China and the USA, whilst among European nations, joint first place is taken by Germany and Great Britain. Poland is unquestionably the leader among the countries from Central and Eastern Europe.
Although the attractiveness to investors of our region has fallen when compared to last year, Central and Eastern Europe are still highly regarded amongst investors, mainly due to the conditions which allow for a growth in production.

Types of foreign investments
Poland is the second most popular country in the world for investment in industrial production – only China surpasses us. The factors determining our success are our geographical location together with our low wage costs.
New work places
Already for the second year in succession, Poland is the leader in terms of new work places. In 2006 31,115 new jobs came into being, which is a somewhat weaker figure than that of 2005 (37,745), however we still exceed all the other European countries in this field.

The future
Investors confirm, that they want to continue their trading activities in Europe, and the country most often mentioned for locating future investments is Germany. Poland is in second place, as it was last year.
Over 70% of those questioned are certain of the future improvement in the image of Central Europe, which is very positive information.

The European Attractiveness Survey 2007 is a cyclical survey undertaken each year by the consultancy firm Ernst&Young. In this year’s edition, over 800 people took part – the representatives of international investors; 53% of the respondents came from Europe, 35% from North America and 11% from Asia.