Krakow Special Economic Zone

Tens of millions invested. About 20 new investment permits, capital expenditure worth tens of million PLN and 60 hectares of new terrain - these are the plans for the following year of the Krakow Special Economic Zone (KSEZ).

At the beginning of 2007, on the basis of a new act waiting for the signature of the Prime Minister, the regional aid in KSEZ will increase from 40 to 50 percent for large companies and even up to 70 percent in the case of medium and small enterprises - said Krzysztof Poradzisz, the President of Krakow Technology Park (KTP), the company managing the KSEZ.

The new, higher level of regional aid became a magnet attracting entrepreneurs. This year the KSEZ plans to issue over 20 new permits. For comparison - last year they have issued 13 new permits, and in 2005 only four.

The KTP looks especially for investors from the high-tech, IT and electronic fields. So far the KTP has issued 40 permits to such companies as - Motorola, ComArch, Shell, Ericpol, ACS i MAN, Car Technology Production and RR Donnelley. These investments have brought until now four thousand new jobs and in two years they will create another three thousand. To the end of 2009 the companies plan the expenditure worth 600 million PLN.

The Krakow Zone has been created in 1998, it used to have an area of 66 hectares. Nowadays it consists of 264 hectares in seven sub-zones (Czyżyny, Pychowice, Branice, Kraków Business Park in Zabierzów, Niepołomice and Tarnów Industry Claster) in regions of Malopolska and Podkarpacie. This year the KTP intends to enlarge the area by 60 hectares in Krakow, Niepołomice, Brzesk and Tarnów. The year 2007 should be profitable for all of the Special Economic Zones. The investments started in 2006 may reach nine billion PLN.

Poland - top investment location in Europe

According to FedEE Poland is the top investment location in Europe . More than 5 billion Euros invested in Poland.

At the end of July 2007 foreign firms had invested 5.609 billion Euros into Poland this year. In July alone the value of foreign direct investments (FDI), reached 1.116 billion Euros – the National Bank of Poland reported.

This year’s results are even higher than the flow of investments in the same period last year - and last year was a very successful year for Poland - when the value of new investments stood at 5.110 billion Euros.

The Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIiIZ) ended the first half year having participated in a record 31 projects. The single most important effect of PAIiZ’s work has been assisting in the creation of 10,500 new work places, resulting from the implementation of these projects. The value of the projects realized was 746 million Euros, an increase of 320% on the previous year.

According to Ernst&Young’s report, Poland is in seventh place worldwide as a potential location for foreign investors. While Augusts’ ranking by the Federation of European Employers (FedEE) placed Poland as the top investment location among Europe’s 31 states.

This is all good news for the property market.

Affluent Poles return to Poland to buy property

Affluent Poles return to Poland to buy property. Surrey University believes this is a trend.

Three years after the opening up of the British job market, the Poles are beginning to return home – it was reported in the daily Metro.

Thousands of Poles moved to Gt. Britain, immediately after the job market was opened to the Poles. According to various information sources between 400,000 and a million Polish émigrés live in the U.K. However the most up to date British statistics shows that the direction of the flow of the Poles has begun to change, as they are increasingly returning home to Poland.

Metro, the daily newspaper, reports that generally those returning are young well qualified people, who went to the British Isles in search of their first jobs, money and experience. On returning to the country they intend to either invest their savings in a property or in setting up their own business.

Another positive news item is, that Poles are also increasingly reluctant to emigrate. As Metro reports, Poland’s economic revival and in particular the falling unemployment is convincing many Polish people to remain. – Many Poles see that the situation on the job market has changed for the better and that they can find jobs without leaving the country. Over time very many more should return – said Mr Michał Garapich from Surrey University, who has researched Polish emigration to the British Isles.