VOLUME 19, NUMBER 16-17 • APR 29 – MAY 12, 2013 . z∏.12.50 (VAT 8% included) . ISSN 1233 7889 INDEX-RUCH-332-127 Since 1994 . Poland’s only business weekly in English WWW.WBJ.PL 4 Worse than we thought The government has lowered its expectations for Poland’s economy this year 8 Regional power WBJ sits down with Henryka MoÊcicka-Dendys from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss Poland’s role in strengthening the Visegrad Group Brave faces The prime minister and deputy PM show solidarity after tensions in the governing coalition rise 3 Destination Dubai As the Annual Investment Conference in Dubai gets underway this week, WBJ presents a special supplement on Poland’s business relations with the Middle East 11-14 The Gowin gambit PM Donald Tusk will decide whether to keep or fire Justice Minister Jaros∏aw Gowin – again 3 SHUTTERSTOCK News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2-4 Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6-7 Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Finance & Economics . . . . . . . . . . .9 Middle East in Focus . . . . . . . .11-14 Lokale Immobilia . . . . . . . . . .15-17 The List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18-19 Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Lifestyle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 Last Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 In this issue • CEEQA 10th anniversary • IHG expansion plans • Reshaping Rotunda 15-17 COURTESY OF CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD LOKALE IMMOBILIA REAL ESTATE Plus: • Lewandowski scores four • More LOT turbulence • Balkans and the EU • Google Street View • 1 million Fiat 500s • InPost expansion
Transcript
VOLUME 19, NUMBER 16-17 • APR 29 – MAY 12, 2013 . z∏.12.50 (VAT 8% included) . ISSN 1233 7889 INDEX-RUCH-332-127 Since 1994 . Poland’s only business weekly in English
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Worse than we thought
The government has lowered itsexpectations for Poland’s economy this year
8
Regional powerWBJ sits down with Henryka MoÊcicka-Dendysfrom the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discussPoland’s role in strengthening the Visegrad Group
BBrraavvee ffaacceessThe prime minister and deputy PMshow solidarity after tensions inthe governing coalition rise 3
DestinationDubai
As the Annual InvestmentConference in Dubai getsunderway this week, WBJpresents a special supplement onPoland’s business relations withthe Middle East 11-14
TThhee GGoowwiinn ggaammbbiittPM Donald Tusk will decide whether tokeep or fire Justice Minister Jaros∏awGowin – again 3
With Croatia joining the EUon July 1, the bloc will expandto 28 member states. Thatnumber might increase in thecoming years as more andmore countries from theBalkan region look set to fol-low.
With Serbia and Kosovofinally reaching an agreementlast week to normalize rela-tions between the two states,Belgrade is back on tracktowards EU membership.Although it is still years beforeSerbia can become an EUmember state, the EuropeanCommission recommendedthat talks with Belgraderegarding membership of thebloc be formally opened. Ser-bia received full candidate sta-tus last year.
Two other Balkan countries– Macedonia and Montenegro– also hold full candidate sta-tus, but both need to resolveissues keeping them out of theEU.
In Macedonia’s case it’s thecountry’s name. For yearsGreece has objected to theofficial name used by Skopje –the Republic of Macedonia,calling it an open challenge tothe Greek region of Macedo-nia and blocking the country’sparticipation in internationalorganizations. For years theEU has maintained the prac-tice of recognizing the stateonly as the “former YugoslavRepublic of Macedonia.”
The latest proposal by theUN is for Macedonia tochange its name to the Upper
Republic of Macedonia. Ifthat proposal was accepted byboth Skopje and Athens, thenthe accession process couldstart.
With Montenegro, thebiggest issue that keeps it outof the EU is the euro, whichthe country unilaterally adopt-ed as its own currency in 2002.The EU insists on strict adher-ence to convergence criteria,which Montenegro has nevermet.
With that, Montenegro isstill theoretically closer tojoining the EU as it hasclosed two acquis chaptersout of 35, with another twoopened. Neither Serbia norMacedonia have opened asingle chapter yet.
JJaacceekk CCiieessnnoowwsskkii
4is how many goals Robert Lewandowski scored for
Borussia Dortmund in its Champions League first-legsemifinal game against Real Madrid.
1.9%is the revised figure for Poland’s GDP growth in 2012.
10.5 millionis how many web security breaches were reported to
CERT Polska in 2012.
0.1%is how much retail sales grew in March in annual
terms.
“It might be better to just stop torturing eachother.”
Eugeniusz K∏opotek, an MP from the government’s junior coalition member, thePolish People’s Party, commenting on the prospects for cooperation with seniorcoalition member, Civic Platform.
Quote of the Week
How can the EU achieve sustainable growth?Joaquin Almunia and Eduardo Pérez Motta argue forpro-competition policies on in a special feature onWBJ.pl. Log on to learn more.
Numbers in the News
Company index
MAYAPRIL 30-MAY 2 ANNUAL INVESTMENT MEETINGEvent: AIM is an emerging markets FDI-focused event
that blends a trade fair with intellectual fea-tures aimed at enriching investors attendingwith a comprehensive set of guidelines fortheir future investment decisions in high-growth regions.
Location: Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Center, Dubai, UAE
Web: www.aimcongress.com
13-15 EUROPEAN ECONOMIC CONGRESSEvent: The congress will feature a number of
debates and meetings, featuring 6,000guests representing Poland and other Euro-pean countries, who will discuss the mostsignificant matters of economic and socialdevelopment in Europe.
Location: KatowiceWeb: www.eecpoland.eu
JUNE7-9 WALLSTREET CONFERENCEEvent: The conference is the largest meeting of
individual stock exchange investors inPoland, organized annually by the Associa-tion of Individual Investors. It provides anopportunity to meet prominent analysts andto participate in discussion panels.
Location: Hotel Go∏´biewski, KarpaczWeb: www.sii.org.pl
24-26 EUROPEAN FINANCIAL CONGRESSEvent: The congress, organized by the Gdaƒsk Insti-
tute for Market Economics – Gdaƒsk Acade-my of Banking, provides space for pragmaticdebates of business, political and academiccircles. This year’s edition will focus onfinancial security and European integration.
Location: SopotWeb: www.efcongress.com
May/June
Calendar
Balkan states on the path to the EU
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Figures in focusDebt ceilingDebt-to-GDP ratio in selected EU states as of Q4 2012(euro convergence criteria allow maximum 60%)
Source: Eurostat
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Serbian youths hold up their country’s flag
On WBJ.pl
APRIL 29 – MAY 12, 2013 NNEEWWSS www.wbj.pl 3
Politics
GGoowwiinn ggooeess rroogguuee aaggaaiinnWith controversialstatements on in vitroclinics, Mr Gowin hasreceived moreattention that he hadbargained for
Poland’s Justice MinisterJaros∏aw Gowin ruffled a lot offeathers in late April with con-troversial claims that Polishfertility clinics had sold Polishembryos to German researchfacilities for medial experi-ments.
“German scientists ‘import’embryos from other countries,probably also from Poland,and experiment on them,” MrGowin said in an interviewwith TVN24.
As could be expected, MrGowin’s words created a lot oftension in his party, Civic Plat-form, particularly after theGerman embassy in Polandasked Mr Gowin to give thename of the clinic allegedlyconducting experiments onhuman embryos. German lawstates that embryos resultingfrom in vitro treatments canonly be used to help womenget pregnant.
Prime Minister DonaldTusk, after giving his ministerthe benefit of the doubt andallowing him to explain hisunfortunate comments, admit-ted he was “somewhat irritat-ed” with Mr Gowin. “As far asMinister Gowin is concerned,I’m not denying that there issome problem,” PM said at apress conference.
“I’d rather my ministersattracted publicity with theirwork and good solutions, par-ticularly since Minister Gowinhas had something to boastabout recently,” Mr Tusk said,referring to the recently adopt-ed deregulation law, which hasopened up 50 professions (seestory, p. 7).
As WBJ went to press,
Prime Minister Donald Tuskwas due to make an announce-ment about whether MrGowin would be dismissed onApril 29.
Earlier this year Mr Gowinclashed with the prime minis-ter on the issue of civil unionsfor gay couples, which Mr Tusksupports. That conflict hadalso led to an announcement
from Mr Tusk that he woulddecide on Mr Gowin’s fate.Ultimately, Mr Gowin wasspared.
Out of contextMr Gowin, trying to find a wayout of the most recent contro-versy, said that his words hadbeen taken out of context andtwisted by the media, and thathe had no one particular clinicin mind.
“My intention was to showreal problems arising frominsufficient regulations on invitro in the Polish law, and alsoto point to German solutionswhich Poland could take exam-ple from when preparing itsown regulations,” the justiceminister wrote in a statementon his website.
In an interview with dailyRzeczpospolita Mr Gowin said“I regret that my statement wasso imprecise that it could bemisinterpreted as critical ofGerman solutions. It is knownthat the in vitro bill I preparedwas in many ways based onGerman regulations.”
He also said that he wascalmly awaiting the prime min-ister’s decision. When asked if
his in vitro comments were suf-ficient grounds for dismissal, hesaid, “This is for the prime min-ister to assess. On the one handthere are my words which somemight find controversial, on theother my achievements fromthe past 18 months. I believe Ihave used my time well.”
‘Politically spirited’Professor Henryk Wujec, anadvisor to President Bronis∏awKomorowski, praised MrGowin for his work, particularlyfor the deregulation bill, whichhe said would give young peo-ple access to more jobs. Howev-er, he also believes Mr Gowinshould curb his “political tem-perament which seems to gorampant at times,” and that hisin vitro comments are outsideof his area of expertise as a min-ister.
Civic Platform’s deputyleader, Grzegorz Schetyna, alsowas on the fence when it comesto the justice minister’s future.“Mr Gowin is hurting the gov-ernment as a whole. But he ispersistent and politically spirit-ed,” Mr Schetyna said in aninterview for RMF FM.
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Politics
‘‘DDeeeeppeesstt eevveerr’’ ccrriissiiss iinn ccooaalliittiioonn,,oorr aa tteemmppeesstt iinn aa tteeaaccuupp??The prime ministerand his deputy say thecoalition is rock-solid.Not everybody agrees
Last week, Janusz Piechociƒ-ski, deputy prime minister andleader of the junior govern-ment coalition partner, thePolish People’s Party, toldRzeczpospolita, “If my ideasare not adhered to, I will quit[the coalition]. I don’t intendto be a deputy prime ministerjust for show.”
As could be expected, thestatements sparked a flurry ofspeculation as to the future ofthe ruling Civic Platform-Pol-ish People’s Party coalition.
Mr Piechociƒski, who isalso economy minister, wasupset he was not briefed thatPrime Minister Donald Tuskwas planning to dismiss Trea-sury Minister Miko∏aj Budza-nowski over recent confusionregarding the possible con-struction of a Russian-spon-sored gas pipeline throughPoland. Mr Piechociƒski wasalso apparently not even madeprivy to a report explainingwhy the confusion had arisen.
What’s all the fussabout?The speculation forced MrTusk and Mr Piechociƒski tocall a press conference toquell the rumors of an immi-nent break-up of the coalitionthat has ruled Poland since2007.
“I realize that, traditionallyfor the media, politicians whoquarrel are more interestingthan those who work togetherin agreement, and so MrPiechociƒski and I want to beboring bosses of our parties,”said Mr Tusk. “I am convincedthat we will last in our resolvemuch longer than you expect,”he added.
The PM said there hadbeen a “communication prob-lem” on the pipeline issue butnot between coalition part-ners, rather between the Trea-sury Ministry and the energyfirms it controls. MrPiechociƒski, meanwhile, triedto downplay his earlier state-ments, claiming in fact that thereports in had been a “journal-istic essay and not an inter-view.”
“I see that recently jour-
nalists have been doingeverything to speed up thepolitical calendar. I want topoint out that no politician,be they in parliament or inlocal government, wants tobe a politician for show.” Thedeputy prime minister addedthat relations between thecoalition partners are “goodand rational.”
We’re tired of eachotherBut Mr Piechociƒksi’s partycolleague, Eugeniusz K∏o-potek, a prominent MP, sees itsomewhat differently. “Duringthe last parliamentary term,there were two similarmoments, but this crisis isdeeper. After five and a halfyears of ruling together, I seesigns of mutual tiring of oneanother. In such conditions it’seasier to just decide not tocontinue,” he said.
“From time to time, they[Civic Platform] try to scare usthat they can find anothercoalition partner. Let themtry,” he added.
Jan Bury, the head of thePolish People’s Party parlia-
mentary caucus, admitted thatthere had been some lack of“elegance” in relations
between the coalition partnersrecently. However, he attrib-uted the recent flare-up to a
“simple lack of communica-tion.”
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Mr Piechociƒski caused a flurry of speculation over the future of the coalition
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Justice Minister Jaros∏aw Gowin has sparked yet another controversy
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APRIL 29 – MAY 12, 2013NNEEWWSS4 www.wbj.pl
Economy
Polish government lowersGDP forecast for 2013GDP growth datafrom last year wasscaled down as well
Poland’s economy is growingat an even slower pace thaninitially calculated, the govern-ment admitted, as it revised itsgrowth projection for this yeardownward from 2.2 percent to1.5 percent. That means thatthe government expects thePolish economy to grow slowerthis year than it did in 2009,when the global economic cri-sis hit hardest. In 2009, PolishGDP grew by just 1.9 percent.
The Finance Ministry’schief economist Ludwik
Kotecki said that the lowerGDP forecast is the result of alower projection for exportsand lower domestic consump-tion, which reflects a longer-than-expected slowdown inthe EU.
In more bad economicnews, it turns out that last year,Poland’s economy actuallygrew as quickly as it did in thatdifficult year of 2009 – at a rateof 1.9 percent. Earlier thisyear, Poland’s statistics officehad said that growth in 2012amounted to 2.0 percent, buton April 22 revised that figuredownward.
The same forecast for this
year’s economic growth isshared by others. The Instituteof Economics of the PolishAcademy of Sciences (INEPAN) predicts GDP growth at1.5 percent as well. If calculat-ed using revised data from thestatistics office, growth mayeven be 0.2-0.3 percentagepoints lower, Jerzy Mycielskifrom INE PAN was quoted byPAP as saying.
The institute’s expertsexpect GDP growth in the firstquarter of 2013 to be 1.1 per-cent, then 1.4 percent in Q2, 1.7percent in Q3 and 1.9 percentin the last quarter of the year.
KKaammiillaa WWaajjsszzcczzuukk
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7
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Q4 2012
Q3 2012
Q2 2012
Q1 2012
Q4 2011
Q3 2011
Q2 2011
Q1 2011
Q4 2010
Q3 2010
Q2 2010
Q1 2010
Q4 200
9
Q3 200
9
Q2 200
9
Q1 200
9
Q4 200
8
Q3 200
8
Q2 200
8
Q1 200
8
Q4 200
7
Q3 200
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Q2 200
7
Q1 200
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Sliding back downPoland’s quarterly GDP growth (% year-on-year), 2007-2012
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Technology
Google Street Viewexpands in PolandNow all ofPoland’smajor citiesare included inthe service
Most Polish citiesand major roads arenow available onGoogle StreetView, the internetsearch giant’s maptechnology thatallows for panoram-ic views of streets ona computer or amobile device. Thedevelopment comesafter a major expansion of theservice in Poland was unveiledlast week. Previously, only citiesthat had hosted 2012 Europeansoccer championship matchesand selected tourist destina-tions could be accessedthrough the service.
The latest and biggestupdate makes footage of some350,000 miles of roads across14 countries available, expand-ing the service to 50 countries.Google launched it back in2007 in five US cities; now
users can navigate throughmore than five million miles ofstreets and roads on all sevencontinents and even underwater.
Now you can virtually travelthroughout Poland, visiting notonly major cities, but alsoremote locations, as long asthere are roads available there.Google will continue toupgrade its Street View pres-ence in Poland, as the companyplans to send its cars for anoth-er round of photos to Poland in
mid-May.The initial launch of the
service sparked controversyregarding privacy issues, butthese claims were dismissed bythe Polish Inspector Generalfor Personal Data Protection.
In the Street View service,which captures images fromthe ground level, users canmove an icon on a computer,smartphone or tablet, whichallows them to view the areafrom the street level virtually.
JJaacceekk CCiieessnnoowwsskkii
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Now you can visit the Chopin monument in Warsaw’s ¸azienki
without leaving your home
APRIL 29 – MAY 12, 2013BBUUSSIINNEESSSS6 www.wbj.pl
Airlines
More turbulence for LOTThe troubled airlinemight need anotherstate loan, on top ofthe previous one beingreviewed by the EC
The 2012 net loss incurred byPoland’s national airline LOTwas over z∏.200 million, andcould be as high as z∏.300 mil-lion, daily Dziennik GazetaPrawna reported, citingunnamed sources. The compa-ny had earlier claimed its losswas z∏.157 million.
The daily suggests that LOTmay ask for another loan fromthe State Treasury. In Decem-ber, the airline received abailout of z∏.400 million fromthe Treasury and that loan stillhasn’t been approved by theEuropean Commission.
Treasury Ministry spokes-person Katarzyna Koz∏owskadenied the reports. “At present,we are not planning on increas-ing state aid to the company,”she told the paper. LOT shouldfocus on restructuring now, sheadded.
Restructuring has beenLOT’s priority for severalmonths now. So far no definitesolution has been found to thecarrier’s troubles. According toDziennik Gazeta Prawna’ssources, the company’s current
rescue plan proposes threeoptions, without specifyingwhich one should be imple-mented. It sees LOT eithergoing bankrupt, staying underthe Treasury Ministry’s aegis orsold to an investor.
The latter scenario seemsunlikely, though. “In order tosell the company it has to beprofitable first, or at least showthe potential to become prof-itable again. We need to cleanup this whole mess in LOTbefore we are be able to sell it,”Adrian Furgalski from TORTransport Consultants Grouptold WBJ. For that reason, a sce-nario in which LOT remains astate-controlled company is themost probable, at least for now.
The Treasury Ministry alsoseems less than satisfied withLOT’s restructuring process.“In our opinion, the plan is notperfect,” Deputy Treasury Min-ister Rafa∏ Baniak said. Thesources cited by Dziennik Gaze-ta Prawna claimed that the planonly proposes laying off someof its workers and that there’snothing there about reducingroutes and selling off some ofits planes as was earlier report-ed. For the Treasury Ministry,that is not enough.
“The goal is to make LOTprofitable in 2014,” Mr Baniaksaid.
Dreamliners back soonNot all the cards are stackedagainst LOT, though. OnApril 19, the US Federal Avi-ation Administration (FAA)approved Boeing’s fixes forthe battery systems of its Boe-ing 787 Dreamliners, thecompany’s largest passengeraircraft. The planes, whichthe company is planning touse for transatlantic flights,have remained groundedsince January due to battery
issues. The FAA’s decisionmeans that the planes couldbe back in the air within aweek.
Nevertheless, the planeswill be repaired and returnedto some other airlines first,meaning LOT will still haveto wait. “Our bigger competi-tors will probably fly [theDreamliners] before us,which is quite a bitter pill toswallow,” LOT’s CEO Sebas-tian Mikosz said in an inter-
view with the Polish PressAgency. “That’s not how Iimagined being treated,” headded.
LOT plans to be back fly-ing the Dreamliner aircraft onJune 5. Once flights areresumed, LOT plans to askBoeing for hundreds of mil-lions of z∏oty in compensationfor damages and lost businessdue to the grounding.
InPost plans hugeglobal expansionThe Polish companywill spend at leastz∏.1 billion oninternationalexpansion this yearalone
InPost, a subsidiary of privatepostal operator Integer.pl,plans to install up to 2,000 lock-ers for delivery of internet pur-chases in the United Kingdomthis year. The company willspend €45 million on the invest-ment, but hopes that in threeyears’ time, 25 percent of itsprofit will come from the UK.
But the firm has more inter-national plans. InPost hassigned deals to install lockers inSaudi Arabia, Chile, Cyprus,Spain, Ireland and several othercountries. This year alone, thecompany plans to spend up to€1 billion on foreign expansion– it plans to enter the French,Hungarian, Turkish, Swedishand Norwegian markets.
The choice of the UnitedKingdom as one of the coun-tries leading InPost’s foreignexpansion is easy to under-stand. The UK boasts
Europe’s biggest e-commercemarket, worth some €90 bil-lion last year alone. InPostwants to take a slice of thatpie.
People ordering goodsonline often complain aboutthe inconvenience of waitingat home for the package toarrive, and sometimes it failsto turn up altogether. Interac-tive Media in Retail groupestimates that failed deliver-
ies cost the economy nearly€100 million each year.
InPost’s solution allowscustomers to pick up itemsthey have bought online fromlockers installed in conven-ient locations such as super-markets or nearby gas sta-tions. The Polish companyclaims that it has signed dealswith 95 percent of e-retailerspresent on the UK market.
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Thousands of lockers like this one will be installed in
UK cities
Foreign investments
German chamber:Poland best invest-ment location in CEE Ninety-five percent ofcompanies that haveinvested in Polandwould do so again, anew report has foundPoland holds the top spot ininvestment attractivenessamong Central and EasternEuropean countries, accordingto a survey carried out by theGerman-Polish Chamber ofIndustry and Commerce (AHKPoland). The country received ascore of 4.87 out of 6 points.
The second and third placeswent to the Czech Republic(4.17 points) and Slovakia (3.99points). Meanwhile, Russia, theregion’s largest economy, andUkraine were ranked lowest.
Crucially, AHK Polandchairman Michael Kern saidthat 95 percent of companiesthat have already invested inPoland would do so again.
What the enterprises sur-veyed appreciate about Polandthe most is the country’s mem-bership in the European Unionand a well-skilled, highly pro-ductive workforce.
The entrepreneurs polled
did, however, say that Polandhas to work on improving itsinfrastructure, reforming itspublic finances, stabilizing theexchange-rate of the z∏oty oradopting the euro, and makingits public administration moreefficient.
Euro losing favorHowever, there is also a grow-ing number of companies thatdon’t want Poland to join theeuro zone. In 2009, 96 percentof them said Poland shouldadopt the common currency,while this year only 60 percentwere in favor.
Despite Poland’s slowingeconomy, a total of 85.8 per-cent of the enterprises sur-veyed do not expect their eco-nomic situation to worsen andan impressive 77 percent planto increase their investmentoutlays in Poland or maintainthem at the same level. How-ever, only 23.5 percent nowconsider Poland’s economicsituation to be good. Lastyear, the figure stood at 37percent.
RReemmii AAddeekkooyyaa
PKO BP to set
up mortgage
bank
Poland’s largest lender,
PKO BP, is planning to set
up a separate mortgage
bank by 2014. The aim of
the move is to lower the
cost of financing long-
term loans by providing
the possibility of issuing
covered bonds. Polish law
forbids the issuance of
such securities by
universal banks.
Poles want to
decide about
their pensionsPoles would like to be
able to choose if their
pension savings are
managed by the Social
Insurance Institution
(ZUS) or open pension
funds (OFEs), a survey by
Homo Homini for
Dziennik Gazeta Prawna
found. Over half of the
respondents spoke in
favor of such a choice and
only one third were
against it. While 46% said
they would transfer their
savings to ZUS, 44%
would keep them in OFEs
and 10% did not make
any choice.
General Motors
takes over
Isuzu Motors
Polska
General Motors will
become the full owner of
Isuzu Motors Polska
after it signed an
agreement to acquire
40% in the Tychy-based
company. After the
acquisition is completed,
the company will be
renamed GM Powertrain
Poland. GM bought a 60%
stake in Isuzu Motors
Polska in 2002. The
Tychy factory produces
car engines with a
capacity of 1.7 liters.
JSW looking for
acquisitions
Jastrz´bska Spó∏ka
W´glowa (JSW), the
largest coking coal
producer in the EU, is
considering takeovers in
order to secure coal
reserves, the company’s
CEO Jaros∏aw Zagórowski
told Reuters. The company
could carry out takeovers
either in Poland or in
neighboring countries. Mr
Zagórowski said that his
company is looking at
market peer Katowicki
Holding W´glowy (KHW),
and at the D´bieƒsko
mining project in Poland,
owned by New World
Resources. ●
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LOT’s Dreamliners should be airborne in early June
APRIL 29 – MAY 12, 2013 BBUUSSIINNEESSSS www.wbj.pl 7
Labor law
Sejm passes deregulation billFifty professions willnow be opened up
The Sejm, Poland’s lowerhouse of parliament, haspassed the first tranche ofderegulation legislation pre-pared by Justice MinisterJaros∏aw Gowin and aimed ateasing access to some 230 pro-fessions in Poland. Before thederegulation push, some 380professions were regulated inPoland, one of the highestnumbers in Europe.
The first deregulationtranche involved 50 profes-sions, including notaries, attor-neys, prosecutors, reposses-sion agents, detectives, realestate brokers, sports instruc-tors, tour guides and courtofficials.
Approximately 535,000people combined work in theprofessions that have nowbeen deregulated. The bill willnow go to the Senate for con-sideration, but is expected topass easily as the ruling partyhas a comfortable majority inPoland’s upper house.
‘Only good sides’The deregulation move isbeing pushed very strongly byMr Gowin, who told WBJ in aninterview recently that hewants Poland’s economy to bemore open, business-friendlyand that in his opinion, thereare “only good sides” to dereg-ulation.
“Opening up professionswill create new work places foryoung people in Poland so
they don’t have to emigrateand look for work abroad. Thisis just the first step, almost 200professions will be deregulat-ed [in addition to the firstgroup],” he said after the votein the Sejm.
The second deregulationtranche will involve 91 profes-sions in the area of finance,banking, construction andtransport. Customs and insur-ance agents, pilots, architectsand brokers will be some ofthe professions affected.
The second tranche is nowbeing worked on and a thirdwill follow. All in all, it isexpected that 60 percent of theregulated professions inPoland will eventually beopened up.
RReemmii AAddeekkooyyaa
Auto industry
Fiat looking to get back in the driver’s seat
With the millionthFiat 500 car rollingout of the Tychy plant,the company is tryingto regain its glory days
Fifty years after the first 500model was unveiled by Italianauto maker Fiat, the Tychy-based Fiat plant manufacturedthe millionth unit of the car.Its current version has beenproduced since 2007. TheTychy plant is one of two facto-ries in the world producing themodel. The other is located inMexico.
Despite this milestoneachievement, the company stillhad to reduce its workforce bysome 1,400 employes at theend of last year. This yearnearly 260,000 cars – includingmodels other than the 500 –will be made in Tychy, which isa far cry from the more than600,000 units that were pro-duced there three years ago.
Those figures could be setto rise though, if recent reportsof Fiat planning to make yetanother model, this time an
SUV, at the Tychy plant turnout to be true. Dziennik Gaze-ta Prawna quoted unnamedsources in the company lastweek saying that the produc-tion of the new model couldstart late this year. That wouldboost production to 470,000units a year, though that stillwould not be enough to justifyincreasing the workforce.
According to industryexperts, the company couldincrease employment if yetanother model was being madein Tychy. This might happen ifearlier, still unofficial reports,of Fiat moving its global pro-duction of the 500 model exclu-sively to Tychy are confirmed.
Out of gas?A lot is riding on Tychy gainingmore production. With thewhole automotive industry inEurope facing hard times(sales of cars in the EUdropped by 9.7 percent in Q12013 compared to the firstquarter of last year), opportu-nities for investment in thesector are few and farbetween, while Poland’s
unemployment rate stands at14.3 percent.
Poland’s Ministry of Econ-omy has sent out nearly 30proposals to car makersaround the world invitingthem to invest in Poland, andoffering numerous incentives.Minister of Economy JanuszPiechociƒski said that so far hehas received four responses –from Suzuki, Volkswagen,Mitsubishi and Hyundai – butnone of them favorable.
“These companies don’tplan to invest in their produc-tion facilities in Europe in thenear future because of the cur-rent situation on the market,”Mr Piechociƒski explainedduring a speech in parliament.
The news about Volkswa-gen not planning to expand itsproduction in Poland is espe-cially difficult news for the Pol-ish auto industry, as reports –confirmed by Turkish officials– claimed the German compa-ny had Poland and Turkey onits shortlist of possible loca-tions for the production of itsnew delivery car.
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After nearly six years, the Tychy plant produced its one-millionth Fiat 500
APRIL 29 – MAY 12, 20138 www.wbj.pl IINNTTEERRVVIIEEWW
Ewa Boniecka: The VisegradGroup (V4) has been gaininginfluence in Europe. FrenchPresident Francois Hollandeand German ChancellorAngela Merkel attended arecent V4 summit in Warsaw.What is behind the alliance’sgrowing clout?Henryka MoÊcicka-Dendys:Once all of the members ofthe Visegrad Group joinedthe EU in 2004, many felt thealliance’s mission was accom-plished. It took some time tillit became evident that alsowithin the EU, the group stillhas a role to play and, moreimportantly, that we still havesome homework to do inter-nally – improving energy ortransport infrastructure be-tween our countries, facilitat-ing person-to-person contactsor removing some continuingstereotypes that we haveabout each other.
The V4 is increasinglybecoming a well-establishedtrademark within and outsidethe EU. We bring the experi-ence of a successful transfor-mation and the readiness tofollow the path of further nec-essary reforms to the EU.
The recent summit of V4prime ministers, which wasattended by President Hol-lande and Chancellor Merkel,showed that the group isstrongly focused on the biggestissues facing Europe: thefuture of the euro zone,growth, and the common secu-rity and defense policy – a topicto be discussed by the Euro-pean leaders at the EuropeanCouncil in December this year.
Poland is treated by the Westas the natural leader of our
region, is this view sharedand accepted by other mem-bers of V4?The success of the VisegradGroup lies in its ability tochannel the interests of all itsmembers. This reinforces ourpractices of consultation,active cooperation and, wherepossible, intelligent policycoordination on subjects ofcommon interest to theregion.
Yes, sometimes it maymake sense for Warsaw totake the lead in policy onbehalf of the group, which isthe case this year since we areholding the annual presidencyof the V4. Other times, we fol-low the presidency of the V4when it is held by other coun-tries.
Whichever capital takesthe lead, it must have all of theother partners standingbehind it, offering valuableexpert assistance.
One of the most importantdecisions made at the recentsummit was to strengthen themilitary cooperation of the V4and to proceed with creatingthe Visegrad Battle Group,which will consist of 3,000soldiers. What will Poland’srole be?Poland plays the role of a“framework nation,” whichmeans that we are responsiblefor providing key militarycapabilities, including a forcecommand (FHQ), communi-cation systems, a maneuver(combat) element and theo-retically, any capability whichcannot be provided by ourpartners. In practice, a frame-work nation provides some60-70 percent of the required
forces. In other words – it ismainly our responsibility tomake it work.
What is the aim of the unitand how will that relate to thegeneral military cooperationat the EU and NATO levels?The aims are always the same,be it for battle groups or theNATO Response Force. Thefirst aim is to be ready to actwhenever there is a necessityand if the political bodies
responsible (that is the EUCouncil and the NorthAtlantic Council) make theappropriate decision. The sec-ond aim, almost equallyimportant, is to increase theinteroperability among themilitary forces of the EU andNATO countries. To makesure they understand eachother in the battlefield.
And this how it relates togeneral EU and NATO mili-tary cooperation – it is our
input into building the abilityof these two organizations toreact to crisis. It is proof thatV4 countries are ready to ful-fill declarations with practicaltools, and that together we areready to take our turn in thebroader EU or NATOendeavor.
The European Union remainsmired in economic crisis, butthe members of the V4 aredoing much better than some
other EU members. Whatdoes the experience of the V4countries say about how thecrisis should be resolved?Our point of departure bythe end of the 1980s was amore-or-less bankrupt cen-trally planned economy.Therefore, all V4 countrieswent through a process ofstrenuous structural reformsand a long transformation toa free market economy. Thissometimes painful processeventually resulted inimpressive growth rates,enabling these countries tobegin systematically catchingup with the more advancedWestern economies. Thanksto EU cohesion funds, themodernization of our coun-tries is still under way.
Therefore, in times offinancial turmoil in Europe,we recognize the importanceof coordinated efforts toimplement structural reformsas a way out of the crisis. Insome countries, fiscal consoli-dation and structural reformscause a lot of tension, but ourexperience shows that consis-tency and determination tocomplete those reforms payoff.
How does the V4 cooperatewhen it comes to energy poli-cy and reducing dependenceon Russia for natural gas?Poland cooperates with its V4partners on a commonapproach towards energy poli-cy, both regionally and at theEU level. Particular concern isgiven to regionalization ofenergy markets and the pro-motion of regional solidaritywhen there are supply disrup-tions.
Significant work has beendone so far in the field ofinfrastructure developmentand enhancement of inter-connectivity. The V4 coun-tries share the position thatthe EU funds should be oneof the major tools to strength-en the physical integration ofthe V4 markets, with EUCohesion Policy and the Con-necting Europe Facility beingkey sources of support forlarge energy projects in theregion.
Currently, the Polish presi-dency is working on its mainpriority, namely the regional-ization of the gas market inthe V4 region. This will bedone by eliminating existingregulatory and trade barriersbetween the V4 countries.
Developing strong marketstructures and continuing topursue key diversificationprojects for the region, such asthe LNG terminal in Âwinou-jÊcie, will counterbalance theexisting high dependence ongas supplies from one direc-tion.
The members of the V4 com-pete for foreign investment.But has their been any moveto develop a common CentralEuropean approach?Within the V4 we discussquestions pertaining to coop-eration with partners fromoutside the region. Such con-sultations are carried out inthe so called “V4+” formatand are designed to promotethe V4 region as a whole. Theincreasing role of the V4region in the EU and its goodsocio-economic standing havemade it an attractive partnernot only for EU countries butalso for countries from out-side Europe.
Of course cooperationregarding foreign investmentis not exactly easy, since wetend to be competitors. But, inany case, we share the interestin promoting the region andbringing investment to Cen-tral Europe. That’s why weengage in joint promotionalevents or economic missionsas well as support innovativebusinesses.
The V4 members differ whenit comes to political integra-tion in the EU. Poland is verymuch in favor, whereas the
Czech Republic and Hungaryare more skeptical. How doesthe V4 deal with these differ-ences?Since we are all advocates of astrong European Union act-ing globally, it is in our inter-est to bring the integrationprocess forward. We act joint-ly on dossiers of commoninterest – the V4 can be satis-fied with the positive outcomeof negotiations and the com-promise reached on the Mul-tiannual Financial Framework2014-20.
We are also makingprogress on the integration ofthe V4’s regional gas market.The V4’s flagship endeavor –the north-south energy inter-connections corridor – showsits potential to promote issuesat an EU level.
We all support closer EUcooperation with our Easternneighbors, in particular via theEastern Partnership initiative.We would like to see the swiftintegration of the WesternBalkans with the EU andtherefore, we firmly supportreforms and the reconciliationprocesses in the region.
How can the members of theV4 promote economic andpolitical cooperation at cen-tral and local levels? Isn’t it asignificant obstacle that theV4 Group has not establishedformal mechanisms for suchcooperation? We are aware of the need tointensify people-to-peoplecontacts, to promote closercross-border and regionalcooperation. With this inten-tion in mind, in 2000 the V4countries decided to createthe International VisegradFund. The fund facilitates andendorses grassroots initiativesand projects aimed at devel-oping closer cooperationamong citizens and institu-tions in the region, as well asbetween the V4 region andother partners, especially theWestern Balkans and theEastern Partnership countries.It does so through grants sup-porting common cultural, sci-entific and educational proj-ects, youth exchanges, cross-border projects and tourismpromotion, and through indi-vidual mobility programs inthe form of scholarships andresidencies.
We also contribute to thedevelopment of initiativesthat promote Visegrad coop-eration like the VisegradBicycle Rally to be organizedby the Polish V4 Presidencyin May this year or the JointMaster’s Degree in interna-tional relations, launchedrecently by the JagiellonianUniversity and three otheruniversities in Hungary, Slo-vakia and the Czech Repub-lic. ●
Henryka MoÊcicka-Dendys, director of theDepartment of European Policy in the Ministryof Foreign Affairs, talks to WBJ about Poland’srole in strengthening the political and militarycooperation within the Visegrad Group, thealliance’s economic challenges and its growinginfluence inside and outside the EuropeanUnion
Ms MoÊcicka-Dendys says the V4 is making progress on
integrating the region’s energy markets, to help ease
dependence on Russia
What is the Visegrad Group?
The Visegrad Group (V4) is an alliance of theCzech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slo-vakia for the purposes of cooperation and fur-thering their European integration.
According to Ms MoÊcicka-Dendys, “TheVisegrad Group originates from a summit in1991 by political leaders of Poland, Hungaryand Czechoslovakia (today the Czech Republicand Slovakia), who decided to take joint effortsto transform their respective countries both interms of democratic reforms and in terms ofmarket economy, with the ultimate goal of join-ing the European Union and NATO.”
The Czech Republic and Slovakia becamemembers after the 1993 dissolution of Cze-choslovakia. All four members of the Viseg-rad Group became members of the European
Union on May 1, 2004.Since then, the V4 has continued coopera-
tion, working to influence the EU on issues ofregional interest.●
“The V4 is increasingly becoming a well-established trademark within
and outside the EU.”
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The Visegrad Group countries
APRIL 29 – MAY 12, 2013 FFIINNAANNCCEE && EECCOONNOOMMIICCSS www.wbj.pl 9
National finances
Deficit overshoots EC targetWith governmentdeficit exceeding 3.9percent of GDP,Poland could facefinancial sanctionsfrom the EuropeanCommission
Poland’s general governmentdeficit-to-GDP ratio was 3.9percent in 2012, according toPoland’s statistics office GUS.The figures are higher thanwhat the European Commis-sion has said was acceptable,which means it will likely con-tinue the excessive deficit pro-cedure against Poland.
Earlier this year, EuropeanCommissioner for Economic
and Financial Affairs OlliRehn had suggested that theEC could lift the excessivedeficit procedure againstPoland as early as this year. Inorder for that to happen how-ever, Poland’s deficit-to-GDPratio would have to have comein no higher than 3.5 percent.
The excessive deficit proce-dure is a system by which theEC monitors a government’sspending when its deficit-to-GDP ratio is above 3 percentand the debt-to-GDP ratio isabove 60 percent. The systemcan lead to financial sanctionsif the government continuesnot to comply with the rules.
However, the EC had saidit would make an exception for
countries like Poland, whohave implemented some priva-tization of their pension sys-tems, bringing the deficit-to-GDP threshold up to 3.5 per-cent for them.
At a press conference onApril 22, Deputy Prime Minis-ter and Finance MinisterJacek Rostowski said that heexpects the ratio to fall to 3.5percent this year as a result ofthe ministry’s policies. Thisshould allow for the excessivedeficit procedure to be liftednext year, he added. Polandalready meets the debt-to-GDP ratio criteria, with debtat about 55.6 percent of GDP.
Andrzej Sadowski, vicepresident of the Adam Smith
Research Institute, a thinktank, told WBJ that instead ofturning its attention to Polandand other newer EU mem-bers, “the European Commis-sion should focus first on thecore EU countries that perma-nently fail to meet the crite-ria.”
Mr Sadowski added thatalthough government debt isdangerous for the stability ofpublic finances, ratio targetssuch as the one for deficit-to-GDP were arbitrary and there-fore “should not be interpret-ed on their own but in con-junction with how the countrycan service its debt.”
Unemployment rate inches lowerIn line with expectations,registered unemploymentdeclined only slightly inMarch, to 14.3 percent from14.4 percent in February.The figure meets the LaborMinistry’s forecast fromearlier this month.
In an e-mailed comment,Bank Zachodni WBK wrotethat the “decline in [the]unemployment rate in
March did not come fromthe improvement of thelabor market situation, butmainly from intervention ofthe Labor Ministry.” Thebank’s analysts added thatin the coming months theyexpect “slightly more pro-nounced declines of theunemployment rate, provid-ed that the situation in theeuro zone improves.”
There were 2,141,900jobless persons registered inMarch compared to2,336,700 in February, sta-tistics office GUS said. Thenumber of newly registeredunemployed persons was213,900 in March, com-pared to 224,900 in Febru-ary and 193,700 in March2012.
KKWW
RReettaaiill ssaalleess uupp oonnllyy sslliigghhttllyy iinnMMaarrcchh,, aatt 00..11%%Retail sales in Poland rose ata slower-than-expected pacein March. Statistics officeGUS said that the year-on-year increase was 0.1 percentand in month-on-monthterms retail sales grew by 16.8percent. In constant prices,the figure remainedunchanged y/y.
Economists surveyed byPAP had expected retail salesto rise by 0.5 percent y/y andby 17.2 percent m/m.
“These data should not beinterpreted as a signal ofimprovement of consumerdemand because the reboundis driven by Easter shopping
carried out already in lateMarch,” Bank ZachodniWBK economists wrote in acomment. “We expect con-sumer demand to remainsubdued in coming quarters,”they added.
Poland’s strong retail salesduring the global economiccrisis was one of the factorscredited with keeping theeconomy in growth territory.Recently though, retail saleshave slowed markedly. InMarch last year, retail salesgrew at 10.7 percent y/y – andthey haven’t grown by morethan 7.7 percent since then.
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With Qatar Airwaysand Emirates Airlines’flights to Warsaw,Polish passengers cantravel to the MiddleEast faster, easier andin luxury
Middle Eastern air carriers arefighting for European travelers,luring them with its luxury fleetand direct flights to the region.Qatar Airways launched itsWarsaw-Doha connection inDecember 2012. Since Febru-ary of this year it has evenincreased the frequency ofWarsaw-Doha flights from fourdays a week to seven.
Also in February, EmiratesAirlines started flying to andfrom Warsaw. The companyhas even launched its websitein Polish, to attract more Polesto its flights at Warsaw ChopinAirport.
Emirates Airlines carriessome 34 million passengerseach year. From Dubai, pas-sengers can fly to 130 citiesaround the globe, opening upa world of opportunities forPolish travelers, as well as tobusinesspeople traveling tothe CEE region.
When asked about the rea-sons for launching the War-saw-Dubai connection, MaciejPyrka, Emirates’ country man-
ager for Poland, said that themain reason was the fact thatdemand for internationalflights from Poland had risenby 20-30 percent annually.
“For Emirates, one of thekey indicators was the fact thatthe UAE is currently Poland’snumber-one trade partneramong Arab countries,” MrPyrka said. He added thatPoland’s trade volume with theregion amounted to some $1billion in 2010.
The Warsaw-Dubai route isserviced with Airbus A330-200aircraft. The plane can carry237 passengers in three class-es. It has 12 seats in the firstclass, 42 in business class and
183 in economy class. Emi-rates is in fact the first interna-tional airline to offer Polishfliers first-class seats.
Emirate’s Airbus planes flyto Dubai every day. In addi-tion to passengers, the aircraftcan also carry 238 tons ofcargo a week in its planes’ lug-gage hold.
BBeeaattaa SSoocchhaa
Warsaw Business Journal’s special supplement on Poland’s economic relations with Middle Eastern countries APRIL 29 – MAY 12, 2013
Poland and the Middle East
Region of opportunityPolish economicinvolvement in theMiddle East isminimal – but thatwasn’t always the case.Can Polish firmsregain a foothold?
Four giant German-madeTBM cutting shields are cur-rently working around-the-clock at an average speed of 80meters per week, building War-saw’s second subway line. Theproject is one of the biggest ofits kind in Poland, valued atz∏.4.7 billion, and carried outby a consortium headed by aTurkish company, Gulermak.
Turkey’s construction in-dustry is ranked third-biggestin the world after those of theUS and China, with 23 compa-nies in the world’s top 225.After Romania, Poland is thesecond-largest European con-struction site for Turkish firms,who have carried out projectsworth $1.2 billion here since1989.
But construction is onlyone of several areas whereTurkey has a strong presencein Poland. The number ofTurkish companies operatingin other sectors in Poland isgrowing, too, according to thePolish-Turkish Business Coun-cil: from trading micro-firmsto large companies eying biginfrastructural programs inenergy, transport infrastruc-ture and services.
Poland is eager to recipro-cate this interest. The govern-ment has identified Turkey asa top potential market for Pol-ish businesses. Last yearPoland exported goods worth€2.4 billion to Turkey, but thepotential is much bigger.
Polish sectors that couldbenefit from cooperation withTurkey include machine pro-duction, chemicals, cosmetics,consumer electronics, homeappliances, furniture andenergy generation.
“The structure of Turkishindustry is similar to Poland’s,”said Tomasz Dàbrowski, man-
aging partner at Dentons lawfirm and chairman of the Pol-ish-Turkish Business Council.“In many areas our economiesare complementary.”
Untapped potentialTurkey’s position at the cross-roads of Europe and the Mid-dle East means it can offer agateway to a whole world ofbusiness opportunities forPoland in the region. It’s anEU candidate (albeit a some-what disheartened one), witha customs treaty in place since1996. It combines Caucasian,Mediterranean, Balkan andMiddle Eastern cultural influ-ences, which could make itPoland’s bridge to the neigh-boring markets inhabited byas many as a billion con-sumers.
Moving further south,there is Israel, another landof opportunity for Polishbusinesses. It is one ofPoland’s strategic militarypartners (components ofSpike missiles for Israeli
defense firm Rafael are pro-duced by Poland’s BumarGroup), and it is about totighten its scientific coopera-tion with Warsaw, addingnanotechnology and IT to thelist of knowledge transfers.
As far as countries fromthe Gulf are concerned,Poland’s biggest achievementin terms of energy contracts isundoubtedly in Qatar. A con-tract for LNG gas suppliessigned in 2009 is estimated at$550 million annually and willmake the country Poland’ssecond-largest gas supplierafter Russia, once the gasport in ÂwinoujÊcie has beencompleted in 2014.
These examples aside,Poland’s presence in theregion is negligible inabsolute figures. Israelaccounts for nearly 30 per-cent of Polish trade with allMiddle Eastern countries,while Turkey’s exports toPoland represent just 1 per-cent of the country’s totalexports.
Big stakesStill, there are those who arenot discouraged so easily. Acouple of small, private firmsshowed up at the latest trilater-al British-Afghan-Polish analyt-ical forum organized by thePolish Institute of InternationalAffairs (PISM), a think tank.There was talk about the futureof Afghanistan, the shape ofthe new NATO mission andprospects for rebuilding region-al infrastructure. Could Polishbusinesses join efforts torebuild the ravaged country?
Marcin Piotrowski, an ana-lyst at PISM, said it’s much tooearly to think about any seriousinvestments in Afghanistan,for obvious security reasons. Inthe long-haul though, theprospects for doing business inAfghanistan are not the stuff offantasy. The stakes are high. IfAfghanistan’s deposits of min-erals and metals estimated at$1-3 trillion are tapped, thewar-torn country would quick-ly become one of the world’smining powers.
Looking eastWhat can Poland do to improve trade relations with the Middle East?
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Steering in the right directionPolish companies want to conquer marketswith their one-of-a-kind yachts
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Flying in styleMiddle Eastern airlines have broughtluxury to the Polish skies
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Airlines
Arab airlines compete for Polish passengers
In thissupplementRegion of opportunity . . . . . . . .11, 13
Between 2002 and 2007 Polish-Turkish trade increased near-ly sixfold. In 2012 the trade volume dropped slightly to justabove $4.9 billion, with the surplus for Poland, according toTurkey’s statistics agency, TurkStat. But Poland remained animportant trade partner for Turkey, holding 20th place interms of both imports and exports. Transnational corpora-tions in the automotive, consumer electronics and homeappliance sectors play a key role in the trade turnoverbetween the two countries.
Source: Trade and Investment Promotion Section,
Embassy of Republic of Poland in Ankara
APRIL 29 – MAY 12, 2013MMIIDDDDLLEE EEAASSTT IINN FFOOCCUUSS12 www.wbj.pl
The reasons for Polish compa-nies to search for business inthe United Arab Emirates(UAE) seem obvious. With apopulation of just over 8 mil-lion, the UAE had a nominalGDP of $338 billion in 2012,compared to the $514 billionPoland’s 38-million strongeconomy generated, accordingto IMF figures.
The UAE’s economy grewby 4 percent last year,although that is expected toslow down to 2.6 percent (stillhigh by current Europeanstandards) this year, alsoaccording to the IMF.
Not just oilSince the discovery of oil inthe UAE more than 30 yearsago, the country has under-gone a profound transforma-tion from an impoverishedregion of small desert princi-palities to a modern state witha high standard of living. Butalthough the UAE, like other
Gulf countries, is associatedmainly with oil wealth, servicesaccount for 43.1 percent of itsGDP, according to the CIAWorld Factbook.
Dubai, UAE’s most famouscity, has grown to become ahuge metropolis, as well as acultural and business hub ofthe region. So how are Polishcompanies faring in this lucra-tive market?
No strategy“Poland has no strategy fordoing business in the UAE.Sometimes we get calls fromcompanies just one or twoweeks before they come here,whereas you need at least amonth or two to arrange any-thing tangible,” said AhmedAmer, vice chairman of thePolish Business Group –UAE.
“They just come to exposand display their wares but thisis not a bazaar, there are com-panies from all over the worldtrying to win clients here,” headded.
However, Mr Amer did saythat companies like CentrumMedyczne, a private health-care provider, have a goodchance to enter the UAE mar-
ket because “Polish health-care companies are well-respected here.”
From the point of view ofpossible UAE investments inPoland, Mr Amer said the
problem is that “people in theUAE simply do not know any-thing about Poland. They haveno idea what kind of country itis.” Asked how this situationcould be remedied, Mr Amer
repeated that Poland had tohave a concept for gettingnoticed.
“I lived in Poland for 18years and I know that veryoften the quality of Polish
products is better than thequality of some of the prod-ucts brought here from othercountries. But there has to bea strategy,” he said.
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The Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai – you’re unlikely to meet Polish businesspeople there
APRIL 29 – MAY 12, 2013 MMIIDDDDLLEE EEAASSTT IINN FFOOCCUUSS www.wbj.pl 13
RReeggiioonn ooff ooppppoorrttuunniittyyMr Piotrowski is optimistic
about the future ofAfghanistan. “I think a break-out of civil war [after Americantroops withdraw in 2014] canbe avoided. The Afghan securi-ty forces will remain at 353,000troops, stabilizing the country’ssecurity and opening up invest-ment possibilities,” he said.
But how realistic is it toimagine Poland as part of theinternational business commu-nity, which includes American,British, German, Chinese andIndian companies, ready toplay for the big stakes?
Abandoned legacyAs a matter of fact, it wouldnot be entirely unprecedented.During the Cold War era, Pol-
ish business had a significantpresence in the Middle East,with 450 Polish experts on con-tracts in Algeria, Libya andMorocco alone. Polish engi-neers built thousands of kilo-meters of roads, two steelplants, a dam and a dozenother big construction projectsin Iraq and Libya. There werealso 700 Arab students at Pol-ish universities at the time. Butsince Poland’s political andeconomic transition, thatcooperation has withered.
“We have forgotten aboutthe region,” said Adam Balcer,program director at thedemosEUROPA – Centre forEuropean Strategy policyinstitute. “All post-communistcountries have had a problemwith the practical dimension of
their foreign policy to agreater or lesser extent,” headded. But Poland has shovedthe whole sphere of foreignpolicy-making into a deep cor-ner and marginalized discus-sion about foreign issues in themedia, he said.
However Patrycja Sasnal,an analyst at PISM, is cautiousnot to overestimate the impor-tance of once close economicties with the region. She point-ed out that though Poland cre-ated a notable economic foot-print there, Polish politicianswere not too eager to engagepolitically, and had reserva-tions towards both Arab coun-tries and Israel. But the past ispast and both the political andbusiness map have changeddramatically since then.
Idle businessStill, despite the fact that hun-dreds of thousands of Polesspend their holidays in Egyptand Turkey (in 2010, 600,000Poles visited Egypt alone) andthe fact that there are nowdirect flights linking Warsawwith the Arabian Peninsula,Polish businesspeople are noteager to jump on the planeand fly east.
“Official visits on a highlevel cause great pain toorganize,” said Ms Sasnal. “It’sdifficult to find Polish produc-
ers who are willing to promotetheir products in Arab coun-tries,” she added, explainingthat on more than one occa-sion, Polish business delega-tions were met by non-deci-sion-makers and representa-tives of the wrong sectors.
There is also little improve-ment in terms of attractinginvestment. Saudi Arabia,which holds the world’s third-largest foreign-exchange re-serves, worth $600 billion,prefers more prestigious loca-tions for its foreign directinvestments. “There is a kind ofglobal competition for Gulfinvestments,” Ms Sasnal said.“If Poland attracts anybody,they are mostly fly-by-nighters.”
Where the business com-munity is concerned, thereseems to be a lack of jointgrassroots initiative, she notes.Take the ban on beef levied onPoland in 2008 by Saudi Ara-bia as a result of the mad-cowdisease breakout. It has notbeen lifted because nobodycared to send inspectors toPolish meat processing plants.
Strategic ADHDIt would be unfair to place allthe blame for Polish business-es’ limited success in non-European markets on politi-cians. In fact, some say theyare even doing too much.
“Sometimes [governmentinitiatives] give the impressionof strategic ADHD,” said MrBalcer. There are the “GoChina” and “Go Africa”strategies, five priority marketslisted and a number of region-al initiatives. The economyministry and the foreign min-istry have been busy comingup with bold strategies to con-quer foreign markets. But as amedium-sized country weshould not try to bite off morethan we can chew, Mr Balcerwarns.
What could also help lever-age our international standingis so-called “soft” power,which thus far is not very pow-erful. Proportionally, Poland’sdevelopment aid is the small-est in the whole EU at a mere0.08 percent of gross nationalincome. Poland also lagsbehind Ukraine and Romaniain terms of student exchangeswith Arab countries.
The 2011 Polish Presidencyof the EU Council andPoland’s support for the ArabSpring might have improved
the country’s image abroad abit, Ms Sasnal cautiouslystates. After all, “it turned outthat we had something to saybased on our experience withsystem transformation. Ifthat’s any foundation for eco-nomic relations, then it mightbe a good sign.”
But even though Polandwas the first Western countryto recognize the new Turkishrepublic in 1923, it’s been Bri-tish-Turkish companies thathave been entering Iraq, SaudiArabia and Central Asia, MrBalcer pointed out. “I’m afraidthat we’ll stay at the level ofglobal expansion rhetoric, oureconomic footprint will slight-ly broaden, but finally, we’llremain a self-consumed,Euro-centric and unfortunate-ly peripheral country,” he said.
Next year’s 600th anniver-sary of the establishment ofPoland’s relations with Turkeyoffers an opportunity to turnrhetoric into action. Both sidesdeclare they would like to seethat happen.
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➡ Continued from p. 11
Karpielówka Restaurant
Our name comes from an area in Za-kopane, and in our restaurant you can feel the air and the atmosphere of the Tatra Mountains.
With our original high-lander décor and the cli-mate of an outlaw’s cot-tage, it’s the perfect place to dine on traditional dishes including our spe-cials: dumplings, knuckle baked with onion, dishes with oscypek cheese and much more.
We can organize wedding dinners, conferences and banquets, as well as picnics with BBQ and bonfi re. Check our lunch menu,our delivery service and catering options.
ul. Indiry Gandhi 11, tel. 22 644 85 10 | Imielin Metro Station, close to Multikino;City Hall Ursynów; 5 minute walk towards St. Thomas the Apostle Church
Open 12:00-last guest. | Reservations: +48 22-644-85-10 or [email protected]
www.karpielowka.com.pl | Check our Facebook page
Polish food exports to theMiddle East
According to preliminary data from Poland’s Ministry ofAgriculture, the combined food and agricultural exportsfrom Poland to Arab countries and Turkey stood at €591 mil-lion, a 36 percent increase compared to 2010. Saudi Arabia isthe biggest food importer in the region.
Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development,
“Poland’s food export possibilities in selected Arab countries and Turkey,” 2012
Poles want stronger soft power
The vast majority of Poles (74 percent) feel a moral responsi-bility to support poorer societies, according to a recent studybased on polling conducted for the Ministry of ForeignAffairs.
In 2011, Poland spent z∏.1.2 billion on international aid.That included Polish contributions to the EU budget (z∏.803.2million or 65 percent of all Polish aid transfers) and bilateralaid provided directly. The latter went mainly to the EasternPartnership countries, Afghanistan, North Africa and MiddleEastern countries.
Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs “Poles on Development Assistance”
study summarising results of an opinion poll conducted
in November 2012 for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
APRIL 29 – MAY 12, 2013MMIIDDDDLLEE EEAASSTT IINN FFOOCCUUSS14 www.wbj.pl
Yachts
SSmmooootthhssaaiilliinnggPolish yachtproducers are alreadyrenowned in Europe,and are now lookingto expand evenfurther
There are some 900 shipyardsin Poland. Many of them
started out as small family-run businesses. Now theyemploy 35,000 people in totaland sell their products world-wide.
Over the years Poland hasbecome a global giant in theboat-building industry. Oneout of every three sailingyachts in Europe is made inPoland. In the category ofmotorboats of up to 9 metersin length, Poland is the sec-ond-biggest producer in theworld, after the US.
Polish shipyards produceup to 22,000 marine vesselsper year, and since the luxurygoods market in Poland is stilllimited, 95 percent of theboats are exported. In 2011alone, Poland exported $268million worth of yachts, row-boats and canoes, withFrance, Norway and Ger-many being the top three des-tinations.
About a third of all vesselswhich take part in boat showsacross Europe are Polish-made, according to estimatesby the Polish Chamber ofMarine Industry and WaterSports. However many ofthem are sold under globalbrands like the renownedFrench Groupe Beneteau andUS giant Brunswick Marine.
Now Polish companies arethinking about conqueringthe rest of the world, and arelooking with particular inter-est to the Middle East.
“We know that the MiddleEast market is a unique one,looking for one-of-a-kind,luxury boats. We have onelike that in the developmentstages and want to show it topotential customers,” saidMarcin Bank, managementboard member at NautinerYachts.
“Customers from thisregion don’t really care aboutthe price, but about the quali-ty and uniqueness of theproduct. We spoke with oneof our potential customerslast year and his initial inter-est waned after hearing thatthe yacht was 58 feet long,and not 58 meters long, as hehad initially thought,” MrBank added.
Polish shipyards producetop-of-the-line boats andclaim that they can incorpo-rate almost all client require-ments into their existingyacht designs – and they havethe awards to prove it. Thetailor-made approach and ahigh degree of flexibility issomething that Polish ship-yards hope will help themmake their mark in the Mid-dle East.
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LLOOKKAALLEE IIMMMMOOBBIILLIIAAW a r s a w B u s i n e s s J o u r n a l ’s w e e k l y s u p p l e m e n t o n r e a l e s t a t e , c o n s t r u c t i o n a n d d e v e l o p m e n t APRIL 29 – MAY 12, 2013, LI 18/16-17
Social media
in real estateSocial media could be the
future of real estate and
development marketing,
but the sector still isn’t
using such communication
vehicles as Facebook,
Twitter or LinkedIn in B2B
or B2C communication as
it should, according to
industry experts who
participated in a
discussion panel organized
by Construction Marketing
Group. Announcing news
on Twitter or Facebook
could increase sales in the
sector, they said. CMG is
an initiative from
engineering consultancy
Buro Happold aimed at
helping the construction
business make better use
of marketing tools.
Sports Direct
at Europa
CentralnaUK clothing retailer Sports
Direct has leased 2,350
sqm at the Europa
Centralna shopping center
in Gliwice, which is the
first lease signed by the
company in Poland.
Europa Centralna, a
mixed-use complex
combining a shopping mall
and a retail park, is located
at the intersection of the
A1 and A4 highways, the
largest motorway
interchange in Central
Europe. Five million
people live within its
catchment area and
anchor tenants include
Tesco, Media Saturn,
Castorama and Jula. The
Europa Centralna scheme
was opened in March
2013. ●
Sobieski Business Park . . . . . .15
Rotunda revamp . . . . . . . . . . . .15
CEEQA roundup . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Kraków offices . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
More IHG hotels . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
Investment volumes . . . . . . . . .17
In this issue
1716
The CEEQA awards galacrowned industry leaders andcelebrated its 10th anniversary
IHG plans to expand in Poland,bringing the number of hotels ithas in the country to 40
Office
SSoobbiieesskkii BBuussiinneessss PPaarrkkccoonnssttrruuccttiioonn ttoo llaauunncchh ssoooonnEuroplan hasobtained a buildingpermit for its officescheme in Warsaw’sMokotów district,along the Royal Route
The Sobieski Business Park inWarsaw has obtained its finalbuilding permit. DeveloperEuroplan will soon begin con-struction on the first phase ofthe investment. The schemewill be located at the intersec-tion of ul. Sobieskiego and ul.Sikorskiego, along Warsaw’sRoyal Route. In total, theinvestment will comprise threebuildings with 30,000 sqm ofoffice space.
The first phase of the invest-ment will deliver some 7,900sqm of office space on sevenstoreys and 365 sqm of retailspace. Each storey of the build-ing will comprise from 1,100 to
1,300 sqm. The building isscheduled for completion atthe end of 2014. Europlanintends to obtain BREEAMcertification for the building aswell.
Europlan is touting the proj-ect for its proximity to the citycenter – within a 15-minute caror bus ride – and for its accessi-bility to public transport. Newinfrastructure developmentsare planned in the area, includ-ing a new tram route, a south-ern ring road and an inner-citythoroughfare. Cushman &Wakefield has been appointedthe exclusive agent in the com-mercialization of phase one ofthis office complex.
Europlan has developedresidential and office schemesin Warsaw since 2005. It recent-ly completed the constructionof the Feniks office building indowntown Warsaw.
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Office
Varsovians to decide on Rotunda’s futurePKO Bank Polskiwants to revitalize itslandmark building indowntown Warsaw
PKO Bank Polski, Poland’slargest lender, wants to revi-talize its iconic Rotundabuilding in the center of War-saw. Rotunda is located at theRondo Dmowskiego round-about in the heart of the Pol-ish capital and is one of thebest-known landmarks andmeeting places in the city.
Its construction waslaunched in 1960 and com-pleted in 1966. The building,sometimes referred to as the“general’s hat” is consideredone of Poland’s icons of themodernist style, a populararchitectural style in thecountries of the Eastern blocat the time. PKO BP wants to
make it more modern andenergy-efficient.
As 30 percent of the mod-ernized building’s area hasbeen designated for socialspace, the bank’s representa-tives decided to launch publicconsultations on the project’sfuture purpose. Until May 11Poles can participate in a pollto decide whether Rotundashould host a tourist informa-tion office, the city’s museum,a café or a press-readingroom.
PKO BP has also met witharchitects and experts fromthe Association of PolishArchitects, the Museum ofModern Art, the WarsawDevelopment Forum, the Pol-ish Green Building Counciland the city’s Center forSocial Communication to dis-cuss the building’s function
after the revitalization. Afterpublic consultations are com-pleted, the bank will launchan international architecturalcompetition for the design.
There have been severalattempts to refurbish, revital-ize and even to demolish theexisting structure and buildthe new development thatwould be similar in form to itsiconic predecessor and wouldretain its function as home toone of the bank’s Warsawbranches.
In 2008 the bank held acompetition for the bestarchitectural concept for anew building to be erected inplace of Rotunda. The win-ning design, prepared byGdaƒsk-based KD Kozikow-ski Design Pracownia Archi-tektoniczna architectural stu-dio, envisaged a glass-covered
cylinder structure. The proj-ect was never carried out, asthere were protests against
the demolition of the land-mark.
KKaarroolliinnaa KKoowwaallsskkaa
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Warsaw Business Journal presents Real Estate weekly newsletter
• Know about the newest projects before they’re on the market• Keep up to date on the latest tenders and auctions• Learn the latest trends in Poland’s dynamic office, residential and retail sectors • Find out who’s who in Polish real estate
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APRIL 29 – MAY 12, 2013LLOOKKAALLEE IIMMMMOOBBIILLIIAA –– RREEAALL EESSTTAATTEE16 www.wbj.pl
Office
Kraków BPO/SSC sectordrives office demandThe former Polishcapital is seen as themost important Polishoutsourcing center
Rapidly developing hi-tech andaccounting outsourcing compa-nies are keeping demand foroffice space high in Kraków,according to a new report byreal estate agency CBRE. In2012, 107,000 sqm of officespace was leased in the city, anall-time record for Kraków andthe best result among all Polishcities, save Warsaw.
The vacancy rate in Krakówis at 4 percent, while 24,000 sqmof office space remains avail-able. The average price per sqmof office space ranges from €13to €15. According to the report,prices could rise in the next fewmonths.
With over 60 BPO/SSCcompanies employing altogeth-er nearly 20,000 people,Kraków is considered the mostimportant BPO/SSC center, notonly in the country but also inthe whole CEE region, accord-ing to experts at the Ma∏opol-ska Commercial PropertyForum Conference, which washeld in April and organized bythe British Polish Chamber ofCommerce and CBRE.
“Kraków is no longer per-ceived as a source of cheapworkforce but as a leading aca-
demic center in Poland, offer-ing highly skilled scientific andtechnical staff,” said Miko∏ajMartynuska, development con-sultancy director at CBRE.
Earlier this year, Krakówranked 10th in the world andsecond in Europe as a locationfor services centers in a rank-ing by outsourcing advisoryTholons.
According to CBRE, thecity is second in Poland, afterWarsaw, in terms of totaloffice space, with 600,000sqm. Currently, developersare building 75,000 sqm ofnew office space, half of whichwill be delivered later thisyear.
Office buildings are con-centrated in the center of the
city, near the RondoMogilskie and RondoGrzegórzeckie roundabouts.Other popular office loca-tions in Kraków include ul.Opolska, ul. Lublaƒska, ul.Lea, ul. Armii Krajowej, thePodgórze district, theZabierzów district and in thespecial economic zone alongul. Jana Paw∏a II.
The biggest office projectscurrently under constructionare Skanska’s Kapelanka 42project (the first phase willdeliver 12,300 sqm), Buma’sQuattro Business Park III(12,200 sqm) and East-WestDevelopment’s Amsterdambuilding, the first phase ofOrange Office Park.
KKaarroolliinnaa KKoowwaallsskkaa
Awards
CCeelleebbrraattiinngg ssuucccceessss
CEEQA’s 10thanniversary provedto be a hit
The Central & Eastern Euro-pean Real Estate QualityAwards (CEEQA) held its10th annual event at theSOHO Factory in Warsaw’sPraga district on April 23,and the setting provided a fit-ting venue for a night of cele-bration. CEEQA founderRichard Hallward decided tobreak with tradition and gofor a location that recognizedboth the capital’s past andpresent real estate traditions.The decision was a good one,as the 3,000-sqm warehousewas rocked to its foundationswith more than 600 guestsfrom over 50 countries gath-ering to celebrate at the sec-tor’s main annual industryawards event for emergingEurope.
Two of the biggest awardswere those marking the 10thanniversary, with Rondo 1 inWarsaw winning the Buildingof the Decade award andJones Lang LaSalle takinghome the Company of theDecade award, after a livevote among members of theaudience. The other standoutwinner was Brian Patterson,managing partner of AIG/Lin-coln, who took home the Life-time Achievement award,sponsored by the FinancialTimes.
Among the other key win-ners on the night were Pawe∏D´bowski, partner and headof real estate at Dentons, whowon Industry Professional ofthe Year, and Le Palais inWarsaw, which won Building
of the Year CEE.Of course, the CEEQA
gala is not only about industryrecognition, it also providesan opportunity to get the keyplayers together, for a night ofentertainment. In betweenthe presentation of theawards, the excellent four-course meal was interspersedwith a performance by Polishsinging star Edyta Górniak,who gave a superb renditionof the Dolly Parton classic “IWill Always Love You,”
accompanied by composerAdam Sztaba on piano. Othermusical accompaniment camefrom CEEQA mainstay andfellow pianist Albert Kurows-ki, as well as the DziubekBand. But arguably the stand-out performance of the nightcame from 1980s girl groupBananarama, who really gotthe party going when theysang numerous hits from theirback catalog.
The CEEQA awardscover business activity in 18countries across CentralEurope and SoutheastEurope and are judged by apanel of senior representa-tives of market-leading com-panies active across the sec-tor. The judging of theawards is supervised andaudited by consulting firmDeloitte.
DDaavviidd IInngghhaamm
Warsaw Business Journalwas a media partner of the CEEQA gala
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Polish star Edyta Górniak serenaded the crowd with a
heartfelt rendition of “I Will Always Love You”
CEEQA 2013 winnersGRAND AWARDSLifetime AchievementAward WinnerBrian Patterson, managingpartner at AIG/Lincoln
Industry Professional of the YearPawe∏ D´bowski, partnerand head of CEE real estateat Dentons
Building of the Year CEELe Palais, Warsaw
Building of the Year SEEThe Palas Iasi, Iasi, Romania
Green Leadership AwardSkanska CommercialDevelopment Europe
DECADE AWARDSBuilding of the DecadeRondo 1, Warsaw
Company of the DecadeJones Lang La Salle
BUILDING AWARDSOffice Development of the YearLe Palais, Warsaw
Retail Development of the Year
The Palas Iasi, Iasi RomaniaHotel, Leisure and RetailDevelopment of the YearKempinski Hotel CathedralSquare, Vilnius, Lithuania
COMPANY AWARDSDeveloper of the YearSkanska CommercialDevelopment Europe
Industrial Developer of the YearPanattoni Europe
Investor of the YearUnion Investment Real Estate
Lender of the YearDeutsche Pfandbriefbank
Legal and Financial Consulting Companyof the YearDentons
Development ServicesCompany of the YearArcadis EC Harris
Construction Companyof the YearSkanska SA
Property ManagementCompany of the YearColliers International
AGENT AWARDSAgent of the Year (office agency)Jones Lang LaSalle
Agent of the Year (retail, leisure & residentialagency)Cushman & Wakefield
Agent of the Year (industrial & logisticsagency)Colliers International
Agent of the Year (capital markets) Jones Lang LaSalle
REALGREEN AWARDSRealGreen Building of the YearGreen Towers Wroc∏aw –Phase A, Wroc∏aw, Poland
RealGreen Developer of the YearSkanska CommercialDevelopment
RealGreen Investor of the YearUnion Investment Real Estate
RealGreen ServicesProvider of the YearArcadis EC Harris
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APRIL 29 – MAY 12, 2013 LLOOKKAALLEE IIMMMMOOBBIILLIIAA –– RREEAALL EESSTTAATTEE www.wbj.pl 17
Hospitality
InterContinental to open over30 more hotels in PolandThe plans include theintroduction of twobrands new to thePolish market
British hotelier InterContinen-tal Hotel Group (IHG) plans toexpand in Poland, increasing itsnumber of hotels to 40. Cur-rently IHG has seven hotels inits Polish portfolio with a totalof some 1,300 rooms, includingthe landmark InterContinentalWarsaw, Holiday Inn ExpressWarsaw Airport and HolidayInn Kraków City Centre.
The construction of twomore IHG hotels will belaunched in Poland soon. InJune construction work willcommence on the site of thethree-star, four-storey HolidayInn Express Katowice, whichwill comprise 124 rooms. Theconstruction of Holiday InnWarszawa Mokotów will belaunched in October.
IHG has confirmed itwants to open more hospitalityfacilities in Poland from theHoliday Inn and Holiday InnExpress brands in the nextthree to five years. There arealso plans to introduce HotelIndigo, a chain of boutiquehotels, promoted as “theindustry’s first branded bou-
tique experience” and theCrowne Plaza brand inPoland’s largest cities. CrownePlaza is a chain of full-serviceupscale hotels catering mainlyto business travelers and to themeetings and conventionsmarket.
Angeli Brav, general direc-tor for Central Europe at IHG,
said that the company’s targetcities for the new hotels inPoland are Gdaƒsk, Szczecinand Wroc∏aw. The expansion inPoland is a part of a biggerproject in Europe, whichincludes opening 87 new hotelsin Russia and some new facili-ties in Germany and the UK.
KKaarroolliinnaa KKoowwaallsskkaa
Economy
€€22..66 bbllnn ttrraannssaacctteedd iinn CCEEEE iinn QQ11The commercial realestate transactionvolume in CEE in Q12013 was three timesbigger than in thesame period of lastyear
Total commercial real estateinvestment volume in Centraland Eastern Europe in the firstquarter of 2013 reached €2.6billion, according to a newreport by real estate advisoryCBRE. The most active mar-kets were Russia (€1.8 billion)and Poland (€600 million). Thetotal investment volume for theregion was three times that ofQ1 2012 and is also the bestfirst-quarter result in fouryears.
Offices and retail continueto dominate, the report said.Those sectors represent 44 per-cent and 37 percent of the CEEmarket respectively. ForPoland offices were the clearleader, representing some 71percent of the market. Retailaccounted for 10 percent.
Industrial properties arebecoming increasingly popular.They constituted 19 percent oftotal property investment vol-ume in Q1 2013 in CEE and 17percent in Poland.
The most significant deals
in Poland in Q1 2013 wereRREEF’s acquisition of GreenCorner from Skanska PropertyPoland for €94.6 million andHines Global REIT’s acquisi-tion of New City from ECI for€127 million, both in Warsaw.While smaller economies with-in the CEE region also saw anincrease in transaction vol-umes, the biggest deals wereclosed in Moscow. Metropolisshopping center was acquiredfor around €900 million byMorgan Stanley Real EstateInvesting and AFI Develop-ment completed its acquisitionof the remaining 50 percent inAquamarine BC III.
“Of the 14 percent ofinvestors who see the CEE asthe most attractive investment
choice for 2013, the majorityconsiders Poland to be themost attractive market, and thepreference for Poland exceedsthat of France, Spain and theNordics,” said Mike Atwell,head of capital markets forCEE and Poland at CBRE. “Interms of cities, Warsaw wasseen as the fifth-most attractivecity for purchases in 2013,” MrAtwell added.
When it comes to industri-al properties, a variety of fac-tors are driving interest,including relatively low rentlevels, limited developmentactivity and a relatively highincome component in totalreturns compared to more tra-ditional asset classes.
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The InterContinental Hotel Warsaw is the firm’s signa-
ture building in Poland
Financial services
Commercial BanksRanked by revenue from interests and fees in 2012 www.bookoflists.pl
A guide to Polish business and industry Przewodnik po polskim biznesie i gospodarce
APRIL 29 – MAY 12, 2013TTHHEE LLIISSTT18 www.wbj.pl
Bank BG˚ ul. Kasprzaka 10/16, 01-211 Warsaw801-123-456www.bgz.pl
2,506.82,003.01,682.31,556.0
2,715.82,175.31,882.51,862.5
130.0128.1112.3100.6
1,464.11,216.21,024.0933.0
70.075.275.277.0
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WND1975
Monika Nachy∏aActing President
Geert Embrechts
12
Credit Agricole Bank Polska SAPl. Orlàt Lwowskich 1, 53-605 Wroc∏aw801-331-111/71 355-3005www.credit-agricole.pl
2,498.92,646.51,965.1WND
2,752.82,824.71,992.9WND
198.8308.342.7WND
1,659.31,779.81,416.5WND
65.259.755.8WND
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6,3781991
Romuald SzeligaPresident
Rados∏awKsi´˝polski
13
Alior Bank SAAl. Jerozolimskie 94, 00-807 Warsaw22 555-2222/22 [email protected]
1,950.01,324.0735.0313.0
2,217.01,496.0856.0352.0
172.0152.0-104.0-271.0
1,385.0994.0575.0181.0
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5,9902008
Wojciech SobierajPresident
Witold Skrok
2012 / 2011 / 2010 / 2009
Activities
Notes: NA = Not Applicable, NR = Not Ranked, WND = Would Not Disclose. Research forThe List was conducted in March/April 2013. Capital groups provided consolidated data. All infor-mation pertains to the banks’ activities in Poland. Companies not responding to our survey are notlisted.
To the best of WBJ ’s knowledge, the information is accurate as of press time. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy and thoroughness, omissions and typo-graphical errors may occur. Corrections or additions to The List should be sent, on official letterhead, to Warsaw Business Journal, attn. Monika Brysiak, ul. Elblàska15/17, 01-747 Warsaw, via fax to +48 22 257-7500, or via e-mail to [email protected]. Copyright 2013, Valkea Media SA. The List may not be reprinted orreproduced in whole or in part without prior written permission of the publisher. Reprints are available.
APRIL 29 – MAY 12, 2013 TTHHEE LLIISSTT www.wbj.pl 19
APRIL 29 – MAY 12, 2013MMAARRKKEETTSS20 www.wbj.pl
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3.19
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3.20
10
3.23
74
3.0
3.5
currency rates
Big moves
ahead?
Currency report
Weak macroeconomic datafrom the German economyand from other euro zonecountries put downward pres-sure on the euro. The ECBpress conference after theinterest rate decision on May2 should be very interesting.The market expects the cen-tral bank to do something inorder to fight the visible slow-down.
What can be done? TheECB has a few options, but Ithink cutting interest ratesfrom the current 0.75 percentis the last resort (then thedeposit rate, the rate at whichcommercial banks can depositfunds with the ECB, wouldhave to drop below 0 percent).
The EUR/USD is waitingfor a strong impulse. In theweek of April 22 it traded inthe $1.2975-$1.3090 range butI expect the first week of Mayto be more volatile.
The Polish z∏oty marketreacted to weaker Europeandata but also to local news.The unemployment rateremained above 14 percent,while retail sales increased byonly 0.1 percent in March (onan annual basis). TheEUR/PLN broke from therange in which it had beentrading during the previousweek and continued toincrease to reach z∏.4.16 by theend of the week.
The USD/PLN headed inthe same direction, advancingfrom z∏.3.14 all the way toz∏.3.20 throughout the courseof the week. Liquidity on thez∏oty should be lower in theweek of April 29, as marketswill be closed on Wednesdayand Friday in Poland. The lackof liquidity offers a chance forlarge market movements onthe z∏oty if foreign tradersenter the market. ●
Adam NarczewskiX-Trade Brokers DM SA
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Major indices
Top 5 Closing % change (week) 52-week high 52-week low
Change year to April 25: -12.87% 52-week low: 2,035.80
mWIG40 2,492.91 (April 25 close)
Change for the week: -1.10% 52-week high: 2,718.31
Change year to April 25: -2.95% 52-week low: 2,147.52
sWIG80 10,327.20 (April 25 close)
Change for the week: -0.85% 52-week high: 11,245.80
Change year to April 25: -1.94% 52-week low: 8,984.43
NewConnect 31.24 (April 25 close)
Change for the week: -0.57% 52-week high: 40.98
Change year to April 25: -5.96% 52-week low: 30.93
WIG-Banki 6,127.49 (April 25 close)
Change for the week: -0.54% 52-week high: 6,723.16
Change year to April 25: -8.86% 52-week low: 5,163.30
DJIA14,700.80 (Apr 25 close)
1.13% (for the week)
CHANGE: 9.60%
(year to Apr 25)
52-week high: 14,887.51
52-week low: 12,035.09
NASDAQ3,289.99 (Apr 25 close)
3.90% (for the week)
CHANGE: 5.71%
(year to Apr 25)
52-week high: 3,306.95
52-week low: 2,726.68
S&P5001,585.16 (Apr 25 close)
2.82% (for the week)
CHANGE: 8.39%
(year to Apr 25)
52-week high: 1,597.35
52-week low: 1,266.74
FTSE1006,442.60 (Apr 25 close)
3.19% (for the week)
CHANGE: 6.89%
(year to Apr 25)
52-week high: 6,533.99
52-week low: 5,229.76
DAX7,832.86 (Apr 25 close)
4.81% (for the week)
CHANGE: 0.70%
(year to Apr 25)
52-week high: 8,074.47
52-week low: 5,914.43
NIKKEI13,926.08 (Apr 25 close)
5.34% (for the week)
CHANGE: 30.30%
(year to Apr 25)
52-week high: 13,974.26
52-week low: 8,238.96
world stock indices
43,000
44,000
45,000
46,000
47,000
48,000
26.0
3
27.0
3
28.0
3
02.0
4
03.0
4
04.0
4
05.0
4
08.0
4
09.0
4
10.0
4
11.0
4
12.0
4
15.0
4
17.0
4
18.0
4
19.0
4
22.0
4
23.0
4
24.0
4
25.0
4
2,200
2,260
2,320
2,380
2,440
2,50026
.03
27.0
3
28.0
3
02.0
4
03.0
4
04.0
4
05.0
4
08.0
4
09.0
4
10.0
4
11.0
4
12.0
4
15.0
4
17.0
4
18.0
4
19.0
4
22.0
4
23.0
4
24.0
4
25.0
4
2,400
2,480
2,560
2,640
2,720
2,800
26.0
3
27.0
3
28.0
3
02.0
4
03.0
4
04.0
4
05.0
4
08.0
4
09.0
4
10.0
4
11.0
4
12.0
4
15.0
4
17.0
4
18.0
4
19.0
4
22.0
4
23.0
4
24.0
4
25.0
4
10,200
10,380
10,560
10,740
10,920
11,100
26.0
3
27.0
3
28.0
3
02.0
4
03.0
4
04.0
4
05.0
4
08.0
4
09.0
4
10.0
4
11.0
4
12.0
4
15.0
4
17.0
4
18.0
4
19.0
4
22.0
4
23.0
4
24.0
4
25.0
4
31.0
31.4
31.8
32.2
32.6
26.0
3
27.0
3
28.0
3
02.0
4
03.0
4
04.0
4
05.0
4
08.0
4
09.0
4
10.0
4
11.0
4
12.0
4
15.0
4
17.0
4
18.0
4
19.0
4
22.0
4
23.0
4
24.0
4
25.0
4
6,100
6,200
6,300
6,400
6,500
6,600
26.0
3
27.0
3
28.0
3
02.0
4
03.0
4
04.0
4
05.0
4
08.0
4
09.0
4
10.0
4
11.0
4
12.0
4
15.0
4
17.0
4
18.0
4
19.0
4
22.0
4
23.0
4
24.0
4
25.0
4
Other indices
All’s well thatends well
Stocks report
In the week of April 22 stockssaw moderate gains afterinvestors across the Atlantichad experienced their worstweek of the year so farbetween April 15 and 19. Pol-ish stocks, as has been thetrend in recent months,underperformed most Euro-pean indices.
Monday started off well,with most blue chips tradinghigher, while small and medi-um-sized stocks laggedbehind. Shares of Handlowyand KGHM saw strong gains,earning more than 2 percentfor their investors. A weakopening in the United Statesreversed gains, with the blue-chip WIG20 index closing flat,while the main WIG indexclosed lower by 0.2 percent.
Tuesday’s session was dis-appointing for Polish stocks.With most of Europe tradinghigher and a slew of strong
corporate earnings releasedlate in the day from across theAtlantic, the gains seenthroughout Europe – theDAX up 2.34 percent, theCAC40 up 3.24 percent – didnot extend to Eastern Europe.The WIG closed nearly half apercent lower, while theWIG20 shed 0.2 percent.
Shares rose on Wednesdayon more strong corporateearnings and speculation thatthe European Central Bankwould cut interest rates.
A lack of stimuli left stockstrading sideways for most ofThursday. The mid-capmWIG40 index finally sawsome revival, seeing the largestrise of all Polish indices, closing0.83 percent higher.
Friday was another goodday, with the WIG endingup 0.42 percent and theWIG20 finishing 0.26 per-cent higher. ●
Andrew Nawrocki WBJ market analyst
APRIL 29 – MAY 12, 2013 SSPPOORRTTSS www.wbj.pl 21
Soccer
Lewandowski masterclassThe Pole scored fourin Dortmund’sstunning victory overReal
Borussia Dortmund taughtReal Madrid a tough lesson insoccer in the ChampionsLeague last week, as Polishstriker Robert Lewandowskiscored all of his side’s goals in a4-1 rout over the Spanish cham-pions at the Westfalenstadion.
The first semifinal leg start-ed at an electric pace, withDortmund launching waveafter wave of counter attacks asthey consistently regained pos-session in the middle of thepitch before breaking courtesyof Polish national team captainJakub B∏aszczykowski and thevery impressive Marco Reus,whose direct running causedReal problems all night.
It was somewhat inevitablethat the pressure would eventu-ally tell and with just eight min-utes on the clock Mario Gotze,the man labeled “Judas” bysome Dortmund fans due to hisimpending move to Bundesligarivals Bayern Munich, supplieda perfect cross for MrLewandowski, who lost hismarker before toe-poking theball home. The goal sent the“Yellow Wall,” as Borussia’ssouth stand is known, absolute-
ly wild as Mr Gotze’s €37 mil-lion transfer to Bayern was for-gotten, at least for the night.
But despite Dortmundbeing the better team, the twosides still went in to the breaklevel as Real capitalized on adefensive mix-up that enabledCristano Ronaldo an easy tap-in to secure his 51st goal of theseason, just before halftime.
Yet whatever head coachJurgen Klopp said during theinterval certainly worked, as hisDortmund side was unstop-pable in the second half. Justfive minutes in, Mr Lewan-dowski scored again after heturned expertly before firinglow past the helpless Diego
Lopez.If Mr Lewandowski’s sec-
ond was good, his third wastruly spectacular, as with hisback to goal he controlled theball with his left foot, beforespinning around with his rightand then firing an unstoppableshot in to the top corner. In the67th minute he then completeda wonderful night, converting apenalty after Xabi Alonso hadcarelessly fouled Mr Reus.
And while the 4-1 scorelinemay have surprised some, it wasno less than the German sidedeserved as they proved theydefinitely belong at the toptable of European soccer.
DDaavviidd IInngghhaamm
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Robert Lewandowski scored four goals in Borussia
Dortmund’s rout of Real Madrid
American football
Seahawks top Eagles againThe defense took overin the second half tohelp Gdynia to a 20-7victory over Warsaw
When the Warsaw Eagles andthe Gdynia Seahawks last met,the two teams ran up a total of89 points at Warsaw’s NationalStadium in the PLFA’s Topligachampionship, the Superfina∏,last July. When they met againlast Saturday, at the Eagles’new home on ul. Konwiktorskain one the early season’s mostanticipated fixtures, they onlymanaged 27. The end result was
the same, however, with theSeahawks prevailing 20-7 to runtheir winning streak to threestraight against the Eagles and14 straight overall dating backto last year.
The game started slow, withneither team threatening theend zone in the first quarter.Finally, in the second quarter,Eagles quarterback ShaneGimzo put his team in a goodposition with a long run, andClarence Douglas Andersonmade the most of it with a 14-yard touchdown run. Gdynia’sresponse was swift, however,
with Gdynia quarterback FerniGarza’s passing leading theSeahawks down the field on animpressive drive that ended in aMarcin Bluma touchdownreception. The Eagles led 7-6 athalftime.
The Seahawks defense heldthe Eagles without a first downin the third quarter. Mr Garzafinally gave Gdynia the lead latein the quarter on a 20-yardtouchdown pass to his 19-year-old receiver Patryk KordyÊ. Thetwo-point conversion attemptfailed, and the score was 12-7going into the final frame, inwhich Jeremy Dixon ran pasthis former Eagles teammates,completing the final score ofthe game.
The Seahawks are now 4-0on the season, and currentlyhold a commanding lead overthe other teams in the TopligaNorth Division. The Eagles, onthe other hand, are now at 1-1,trailing Koz∏y Poznaƒ by a halfgame. The Seahawks andEagles will meet again later thisyear, in Gdynia on June 9.
In the weekend’s othergames, the Wroc∏aw Giantstopped the AZS Silesia Rebels55-13, Koz∏y Poznaƒ beat theWarsaw Spartans 47-8 andDevils Wroc∏aw beat the Zag∏´-bie Steelers Interpromex 48-7.
AAlleexx ZZaarrggaanniiss
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The Seahawks’ Jeremy Dixon runs past his former
Eagles teammates in the fourth quarter
APRIL 29 – MAY 12, 2013LLIIFFEESSTTYYLLEE22 www.wbj.pl
The xxMay 14Torwarul. ¸azienkowska 6A, Warsaw
The xx burst on to the musicscene with their widelyacclaimed debut album “XX,”released in 2009. The record,which contains the hits “Crys-talised” and “Islands,” achievedalmost universal acclaim, cap-turing the coveted MercuryMusic Prize, as well as being
voted number-one in TheGuardian’s list of the year’s bestalbums. It spent over 100 weeksin the UK album charts and hassold millions worldwide.
Mixing emotional lyrics withstripped-down guitars and elec-tronic beats, the group hasstruck a chord with a wholegeneration of music fans, andsince their release of anothercritically acclaimed record,their appeal has only grown.The xx’s second studio release“Coexist” came out in Novem-
ber last year and on the back ofsingle “Chained” helpedcement their place as one of themost original and talentedgroups on today’s music scene.
This Warsaw show is theirfirst ever in the Polish capitaland comes as part of their cur-rent world tour, which will seethem play across Europe, Asiaand the US this spring and sum-mer.
DDaavviidd IInngghhaammFor more information,log on to torwar.cos.pl
Night of MuseumsMay 18-19, 7 pm – 9 am
This year sees the 10th editionof the Night of Museums, oneof the most popular events onWarsaw’s cultural calendar.Over 200 institutions, including47 galleries and museums, aswell as theaters, governmentbuildings and even the NationalStadium, will be open through-out the night, enabling anyonein the capital to venture insidefree of charge.
Among the many standoutevents, the Warsaw Fotoplas-
tikon will display unusual three-dimensional photographs of“Warsaw 100 years ago,” whileDom Kultury Rakowiec hasprepared a remarkable artisticjourney into the world of sym-bols and myths, which includeslive music from the groupBabadag.
But although the exhibits onshow are the main draw for theevening, street parties, and agreat atmosphere of together-ness also combine to make thisa not-to-be-missed event, withmore than 200,000 set to be in
attendance. Speaking about what makes
the event special, organizerssay, “The Night of Museums isa phenomenon, creating a hugeannual place for public meet-ings. This is a time when youcan combine education withentertainment, unforgettableaesthetic experiences, art andthe ability to discover andenrich the each other.”
DDaavviidd IInngghhaamm
For more information,log on to noc-muzeow.pl
Museums
Night vision
The National Stadium in Warsaw will be open to the public during Night of Museums
Concert
XX factor
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Due to a dental emergency, Techeyespent much of last week drifting in acodeine-induced haze. It wasn’t asfun as it sounds, due to thegrotesque facial swelling and themerciless, radiating ache whichnever ever stopped, not ever, as iteroded the ragged facade of sanitythat allows us to maintain normalrelations with other humans.
At least we learned that youshould never gnaw on somethingdiscovered under a couch. That’s the“molar” of the story, so to speak.
Anyway, dear readers, it was adrugged, swollen and demented
man that sat down to write this col-umn, which wouldn't be unusual,except that this time we also had atoothache. In our desperation to fin-ish quickly, we turned to our favoritekind of gadget: the techno-toilet.
Pictured is the Numi ComfortHeight from US-based toilet-crafterKohler, whose website literallyinvites you to “explore” its toilets. Ifyou recognize the rectangular shapeof the Numi Comfort Height, or itsinverted aquiline profile, that mightbe because we covered its predeces-sor a few years ago. Or maybe you’vegot posh friends.
Kohler’s latest uber-toilet pro-vides “the finest in personal comfortand cleansing.” It boasts a touch-screen remote, an auto-open/closefunction, an integrated bidet, a heat-ed seat and a foot warmer. Its name-sake feature “offers chair-heightseating that makes sitting down andstanding up easier for most adults,”and there’s ambient lighting, a radioand integrated speakers to add a bitof rumble to the experience. Ourfavorite feature is the “welcomemusic” which plays whenever thetoilet opens. We’d choose “Ode toJoy.”
One final selling point is the
water-efficient flush mechanism,though it sounds rather pedestriancompared to the rest of the features.Still, anything that lowers your billsis welcome, as the Numi ComfortHeight costs a great grunting sum ofmoney: $6,650.
That’s the only interesting toiletwe could find on short notice, but wedid come across some other water-efficient products, like the LG Stylerfrom – as you probably guessed –LG.
The LG Styler is a “clothing man-agement system” which “uses a com-
bination of technologies includingsteam to help reduce wrinkles andodors on clothing.” Now, steam hasnot been an innovative technologysince the Victorian era, but the deviceoffers two functions that the Victori-ans never had: the provocative SteamSpray and the enigmatic MovingHanger Action. Price and availabilityaren’t clear yet, but we expect this tohit the market within a year.
Intriguingly, LG is also workingon a completely water-free washingmachine. How this works is a mys-tery for now, but – according to arumor we just invented – the deviceuses saliva harvested from the elder-ly.
And with that, let’s turn to theblandly named GE Cafe SeriesFrench Door Refrigerator with HotWater, which we shall henceforthrefer to by the equally blandacronym GECSFDRwHW.
Whatever you call it, this free-standing fridge is a capacious beast,with 809 cubic liters of storage space.The key feature is its hot-water dis-penser, targeted at consumers tooimpatient to wait 45 seconds for anelectric kettle to boil. The tempera-ture is carefully regulated by theappliance, which adds an element of
precision you may or may not careabout.
Otherwise, the GECSFDRwHWoffers the usual assortment of high-end fridge features, like a tempera-ture-controlled drawer, an odor fil-ter, and a “pharmaceutical” waterfilter. The price for all of this:$3,099.
That might sound high, butremember that this is an importantinvestment. Indeed, if Techeye had adecent fridge, maybe we wouldn’t beeating food scrounged from underour furniture. Maybe. ●
APRIL 29 – MAY 12, 2013 LLAASSTT WWOORRDD www.wbj.pl 23
