Poland – the best European country for foreign investing?

If you open the Wikipedia article about Poland [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poland] and scroll down to read its part concerning the economy, it turns out that Poland one of the most successful countries in Europe. For the last 30 years after the fall of communism its economy has grown at the highest rate in Europe.

With its average growth of 4.1.% annually since 1992, Poland tops the world ranking together with Korea, followed by Ireland and Slovakia (average growth of 3,9%). This means increasing the GDP per capita by almost 150% within last 25 years, more than any other country on the Old Continent.
It also starkly contrasts with Eurozone’s performance with GDP improvement of less than 40% in this time period [2]. And the growth, as is commonly known, brings excellent potential for profit.
Yet the most recent headlines concerning Poland reveal problems with rule of law and increasing internal fight for the independence of the judiciary, an issue spreading onto the European and international levels [3].

So is it reasonable to invest in Poland as for the early 2020?

Well, from a Polish lawyer you expect only an optimistic confirmation. Certainly, in most cases investments requires professional legal aid and brings us revenues. Yet, from my perspective, the situation appears to be more complex.
Just a few days before Christmas I talked with my Clients form China, who suddenly were left by their supplier, without any reason. My Clients from Germany are suffering from lack of available work force. Polish companies are struggling with lengthy Court processes which take years to resolve.

In my view, investing in Poland has become much more difficult. The rapid growth has been creating great opportunities but also asymmetry – especially between the increasingly modern digital economy and traditional, governmental administration, which still heavily relies on post and paper form. And the constant changes in law happen as quickly as the unemployment is swindling, making it harder to find good workforce.

All in all, it means that while Poland might be offering interesting business opportunities, it is also a very different market than a couple years ago. Not any more a cheap production line, where you can manufacture goods and export them to Western Europe. Rather a bustling shopping mall, where to you can ship your products and merchandise them. Or, to be on the safe side, offer them via a Internet, as Online-Shop with Polish language version.

[1] See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poland
[2] See: https://www.theglobalist.com/poland-economy-gdp-european-union/
[3] See: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/21/world/europe/poland-judges-independent.html as well as the appeal of United Nations: https://ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25447&LangID=E