Gold Magazine March - April 2013, Issue 24 | Page 35

THE CHANGE OF
OWNERSHIP EXERTED
A CONSIDERABLE
INFLUENCE ON THE
EFFECTIVENESS AND
ATTRACTIVENESS
OF EACH PRIVATISED
COMPANY IN POLAND
rozone and its integration as well as for us. The eurozone
entry targets are within our reach. The Polish economy is
open and vibrant and, in this respect, it will gain through
the adoption of the euro.
Gold: In recent years, Poland has undertaken some
major privatisations of state-owned companies. Which
ones have been privatised and what were the main
considerations behind the decision to privatise them?
P.D.: The share of the private sector stands at about
70%. You may label me a “liberal” – which is not always
a compliment these days! – but I firmly believe that
privatisation is the best way to achieve competitiveness,
lower prices for consumers and benefits for the taxpayer.
The mix between private and public sector ownership
is a matter of choice for each individual country but in
the case of Poland, the general tendency over the last 20
years has been clear and we have privatised sectors such
as coal-mining, once the “flagship” of the cumbersome
economy of pre-1989 Poland and now brought back to
life. The Polish government has also successfully privatised the country’s biggest insurer (PZU), the biggest
bank (PKO BP), companies such as PGE, PGNiG, Enea
and Tauron in the growing energy sector, and TPSA, the
Polish Telecommunications Authority. Analyses of the
largest privatised companies in Poland confirm that the
change of ownership exerted a considerable influence on
the effectiveness and attractiveness of each company. In
privatised companies, productivity usually increases at a
faster rate, and of course their international competitiveness grows too.
Gold: In its latest evaluation report on Poland, the
European Council has asked the country to implement a permanent expenditure rule by 2013. What is
the government doing in this respect?
P.D.: This new rule applies to all member states and
it needs a thorough preparation phase to fit into each
national fiscal framework, although some of the requirements already exist. At the government level, the Polish
system includes a debt rule, set out in the Constitution,
which places a limit on the debt-to-GDP ratio, while an
expenditure rule limits the annual growth of all newlyenacted expenditure items to the inflation rate (CPI)+1%.
Work is now in progress and the 2013 deadline is not
threatened.

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Gold: What can Cyprus learn from the Polish economic experience of recent years and the strategy followed
to tackle the severe economic and financial crisis?
P.D.: It is always difficult, or even risky to give advice.
Comparisons may not be wholly productive; Cyprus and
Poland represent very different types of economy. However, some general patterns of reacting to a crisis can be
identified. In Poland we advocate and try to implement
strict financial management and control of public debt; we
try to maintain a healthy and regulated banking system;
we seek to use privatisation as means of boosting economic
growth, and we concentrate on using our assets – and here
both countries stand to benefit from their gas deposits – to
minimize and break up monopolies and to obtain lower
costs while enhancing efficiency. I don’t think this is advice
– just common sense.
Gold: Poland, together with the other three countries
which constitute the Visegrad Group or V4 (Hungary,
Czech Republic and Slovakia), is organising an Investment Forum in Cyprus next month entitled “Safety
amid crisis”. What is the aim of the Forum?
P.D.: It’s aimed at our Cypriot partners. As they experience the crisis, we believe it’s useful and productive to
offer them opportunities for successful business cooperation with enterprises in the countries of Central Europe
which are coping well despite high-risk challenges to their
own economies. We have a number of good examples of
business-to-business cooperation and I hope that the idea
to organise the Forum, proposed by the Polish Presidency
of V4 and supported by my Czech, Hungarian and Slovak
colleagues, offers added value to our economic and financial cooperation.
Gold: What are the common characteristics of the four
countries that justify the Forum’s title “Safety amid
crisis”?
P.D.: First, we share something that perhaps has no defined market value but is crucial in creating a common
mindset and an ability to cooperate. We have a common
history, we are neighbours who share the same values, in
many cases we speak a similar language, and we have created a strong political affinity capable of providing answers
to the major European questions. We serve Europe in
many fields: we share 22% of all EU military missions,
we are important partners in NATO. The V4 group was
established in 1991 so it is older than the Maastricht treaty
and the creation of the EU with its present name in 1993.
In the mid-1990s our collective GDP stood at some $260
billion, today it is four times larger. Central Europe provides a good case for “integrated resistance” to the recent
European crisis. All four Visegrad countries have managed
to keep their heads above the water. One can obviously
argue that some do better and some less so; however I
believe that these so-called “new members” of the EU and
their ability to withstand the crisis justify the title we have
given this Business Forum. We hope that Cyprus business
environment will profit from this experience.
The “Safety Amid Crisis” Forum takes place on 12 April at
the Hilton Park Hotel, Nicosia.

07/03/2013 11:35