Poland attractive to BPO investment

According to areport commissioned by the Polish Foreign Investment and Information Agency in co-operation with the Jones Lang LaSalle and Grafton Recruitment Poland is one of the most attractive BPO investment destinations.

The study looks at the Polish investment attractiveness in the BPO sector in that it assesses Poles’ professional qualifications and linguistic competence, the country’s infrastructure, investment incentives and the local real estate market i.e. basic elements considerably influencing the process of investment selection in the BPO sector. The report clearly indicates that, first of all, the pace of the Polish economy development outstrips other EU economies. The 2009 economic forecasts for Poland show GDP growth may rise by 2% as opposed to the majority of the rest of European countries where the economy is expected to shrink. Secondly, Poland boasts a substantial young and talented pool of specialists, with 400,000 university graduates joining the labour market each year. The quality services and creativity of Polish employees has always been highly appreciated by foreign concerns. According to the report the competitive level of salaries and the wide range of investment incentives play an important role in shaping the trend. The report underscores the Polish labour market is stable with attrition levels typically not exceeding 15%. Apart from being stable it is also attractive - Polish employees do tend to be highly qualified and speak foreign languages i.e. not only the most popular English language but also German and French. Pay expectations in Poland still continue to be considerably lower than in the rest of Western Europe.
Moreover, easy access to office space constitutes another highly appreciated factor drawing investment to Poland. The outlook for the commercial premises market in the country for 2009-2010 is bright for tenants. The majority of office blocks in the biggest Polish cities meets the highest European standards (A class) with plenty of vacant office space available. Renting rates begin at 13 EUR/m2 a month. However, experts advise that in order to secure the possibility of a pre-let agreement or a “made-to-measure” office project inquiries concerning large office space should be settled in advance. (PAIiIZ)

Polish Market

ECONOMIC MONITOR

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• ● In December 2009 and January 2010, as in previous months in the second half of 2009, the Polish economy stood out against other countries in terms of GDP growth. Poland’s economic growth was higher than projected and higher than in other European countries.
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• In 2009 construction output increased by 3.7%.
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• Retail sales increase in most product groups.
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• On the Warsaw Stock Exchange, stock prices were very volatile in January 2010.
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• At the end of December 2009 the registered unemployment rate (claimant count rate) amounted to 11.9% versus 11.4% in November.
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• At the end of January the president signed the 2010 budget bill into law. The bill was adopted by the parliament on December 18.
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• In the fourth quarter of 2009 the Polish economy turned out to be more resistant to the global crisis than had been projected and than the economies of Polish neighbours, something which boosts optimism in forecasts for 2010 and the next years.
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WEEKLY MARKET ANALYSIS

Retail sales up again in June
Retail sales growth in nominal terms accelerated in June to 6.4% y-o-y from 4.3% y-o-y in May. The increase was higher than expected. In real terms, retail sales growth accelerated to 4.5% y-o-y from 2.0% y-o-y. June was a consecutive month with retail sales figures stronger than expected, which indicates that consumption is recovering after it slowed significantly at the beginning of the year. Private consumption is driven by an improvement on the labour market coupled with a rise in disposable incomes. In Q2 2010 retail sales grew by around 3% y-o-y in nominal terms and around 1% y-o-y in real terms. On the basis of retail sales and industrial production data, it can be estimated that the GDP growth rate was close to 3%.

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