Poland: Economic and Political Outline

Economic Overview

As a member of the European Union since 2004, Poland 's economic situation was strengthened with its integration into the community. Less affected than other European countries by the international financial crisis, Poland grew by an estimated 4% in 2011, supported by domestic demand and investment. Due to the deteriorating economic situation in the eurozone, growth forecasts have been revised downwards for 2012, the most optimistic foressing a 2.5% growth.

The government's priority is to find a balance between measures to reform public finances and efforts to stimulate economic growth. Public debt, while still under the legal threshold, worsened in 2011. Prime Minister Donald Tusk has presented a plan to reduce public expenditure and recalibration the state administration in order to reduce the budget deficit to under 3% in 2012 and less than 1% in 2015. Tax reforms are foreseen (including the introduction of a new tax affecting the energy sector), and the age of retirement should be increased. In the unfavorable international environment, the organization of the Euro 2012 football cup has nevertheless stimulated the economy because of the many projects undertaken.

The unemployment rate rose during the global economic crisis of 2008/2009, reaching 9% in 201.

Main Sectors of Industry

In Poland, agriculture employs less than 20% of the active population and contributes to about 5% of the GDP. The country is generally self-sufficient as far as food is concerned. The main crops are rye, potatoes, beetroot, wheat and dairy products. The country also breeds pigs and sheep as livestock farming. Poland is relatively rich in natural resources and the main minerals produced are coal, sulfur, copper, lead and zinc. 

The manufacturing industry is the economy driver, contributing to about 30% of the GDP, whereas the tertiary sector represents about 65% of the GDP. The country's main industrial sectors are machine manufacturing, telecommunications, environment, transport, construction, industrial food processing and information technologies. The automobile industry has resisted well the effects of the economic crisis because this sector was placed at the niche at the right time when there was a high demand for small economic vehicles, which was exactly what Poland was producing.

Source: World Bank - Last Available Data.

Indicator of Economic Freedom

Score:

64.1/100

Position:

Moderately free

World Rank:

64/179

Regional Rank:

30/42

Distribution of Economic freedom in the world
Source: 2011 Index of Economic freedom, Heritage Foundation

Note: The Economic freedom index measure ten components of economic freedom, grouped into four broad categories or pillars of economic freedom: Rule of Law (property rights, freedom from corruption); Limited Government (fiscal freedom, government spending); Regulatory Efficiency (business freedom, labor freedom, monetary freedom); and Open Markets (trade freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom). Each of the freedoms within these four broad categories is individually scored on a scale of 0 to 100. A country’s overall economic freedom score is a simple average of its scores on the 10 individual freedoms.

Sources of General Economic Information

Ministries

Ministry of Finance
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of the Treasury

Statistical Office

Polish Office of Statistics

Central Bank

Polish Central Bank

Stock Exchange

Warsaw Stock Exchange

Main Online Newspapers

The Warsaw Voice
Zycie Warszawy
Economist.com
Interfax
Warsaw Business Journal

Economic Portals

Business in Poland information website
Onet

Political Outline

Type of State

Poland (official name: Republic of Poland) is a republic based on parliamentary democracy. The country joined the European Union in May 2004.

Executive Power

The President is the head of State, elected by universal suffrage for a five year term. The Prime Minister is the head of the government. He is appointed by the President, an appointment which must be confirmed by the lower house of Parliament (as a general rule, he is the leader of the majority party or coalition), for a four year term of office. The Prime Minister holds the executive power, which includes the enforcement of the law and the management of the country's current affairs. The Council of Ministers is proposed by the Prime Minister and approved by the lower house before being appointed by the President.

Legislative Power

The legislative power in Poland is bi-cameral. Parliament is composed of the Senate (upper house, which has 100 seats and whose members are elected by a majority vote on a provincial basis, for a four year term of office) and of the Sejm (lower house, which has 460 seats and whose members are elected by a complex system of proportional representation, for a four year term of office). The President has the right to veto legislation passed by Parliament, but the latter can supplant him by a majority of two thirds of the Sejm.

Main Political Parties

Poland has a multi-party system and is generally governed by a coalition government. The country's main political parties are:
- The SLD (Democratic Left Alliance), a successor of the communist party, recast as a social democratic party;
- The PO (Civic Platform), a liberal conservative party;
- The PD (Democratic Party), a liberal social party;
- The UP (Labour Union), a social democratic party rooted in the anti-communist opposition;
- The PiS (Law and Justice), a right wing group based on a platform of law and order;
- The LPR (Polish Family League), an extreme right nationalist and Roman Catholic party (anti EU);
- The PSL (Polish Peasant Party), a group situated center left, representing the farming community;
- The SRP (Self defense of the Polish Republic), a left wing party with the Polish unions.

Current Political Leaders

President : Bronislaw Komorowski (President by interim until next elections)
Prime Minister: Donald TUSK (since 16 November 2007)
Deputy Prime Ministers: Waldemar PAWLAK (since 16 November 2007) and Grzegorz SCHETYNA (since 16 November 2007)

Next Election Dates

Presidential elections: October 2015
Sejm : October 2011

Indicator of Freedom of the Press

World Rank:

24/179

Evolution:

8 places up compared to 2010

Source: Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2011, Reporters Without Borders

Note: The world rankings, published annually, measures the violations of press freedom worldwide. It reflects the degree of freedom enjoyed by journalists, the media and digital citizens of each country and the means used by states to respect and uphold this freedom. Finally, a note and a position is assigned to each country. To compile this index, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) prepared a questionnaire sent to partner organizations,150 RWB correspondents, journalists, researchers, jurists and activists of human rights, including the main criteria - 44 in total - to assess the situation of press freedom in a given country. It includes every kind of direct attacks against journalists and digital citizens (murders, imprisonment, assault, threats, etc.) or against the media (censorship, confiscation, searches and harassment etc.).