Poland has managed to maintain its position as a top investment location in the region of Central and Eastern Europe

According to the results of a survey taken by over 1,400 German entrepreneurs investing in 16 countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Poland holds first place in terms of investment attractiveness. Since last year, Poland has managed to maintain the leading position, pushing the Czech Republic to second place for the second year running.

It is the ninth occasion that the survey has been conducted by the Polish-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (AHK Polen), in collaboration with fifteen other German bilateral chambers in the region. Between 2006 and 2012, the Czech Republic always ranked first, but Poland had gradually improved its score – to first, it advanced from eighth to fourth place, then went on to hold the second ranking (2010-2012). The third place in the ranking, for the second time, belongs to Estonia.

The ranking is based on a questionnaire with a 6-point rating scale, where 6 being the highest score. In 2014, Poland received a total of 4.09 points (an improvement, compared to the 3.99 score of the previous year), while the Czech Republic scored 3.96 points, and Estonia 3.91. Further places in the ranking were awarded to: Slovakia (3.84 points), Slovenia (3.73 points), Latvia (3.69 points) and Lithuania (3.65 points).

The vast majority (83%) of enterprises with foreign capital investing in Central and Eastern Europe agree that they have chosen appropriate locations for their investments. The greatest number of positive answers to the question: “Would you choose to make another investment in the country where your company is located?” belonged to investors in Poland and Estonia (94%), Lithuania (90%) and the Czech Republic (88%).

In the survey, German investors assessed the investment attractiveness of countries in Central and Eastern Europe in terms of 21 factors. The highest-rated factors are a country’s membership in the European Union and advantages offered by the workforce (skills, employee motivation and labour productivity), as well as the quality of university education and the availability of local suppliers. Those factors were rated highest by the respondents, both in relation to the whole region of Central and Eastern Europe and by entrepreneurs who only invest in Poland. The legal instability of the business environment (a sense of low investment security associated with rapidly changing regulations), low efficiency of initiatives taken by the public administration, unpredictability of economic policies, lack of transparency of public tenders and ineffectiveness of measures taken against crime and corruption are at the tail end of investment factors. Regional survey results rarely overlap with the rating received by Poland as a whole. The main factors criticised by investors in 2014 are the tax system, fiscal institutions, public administration and the insufficient transparency of public tenders.

Despite the criticism, the companies participating in the survey believe that the economic situation in Poland compares favourably with other countries of Central and Eastern Europe. 91% of respondents judged the Polish economy to be good or satisfactory. The average good or satisfactory rating of the 16 countries included in the survey was 58%. The national economies of Lithuania, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and the Czech Republic were ranked above average among the CEE countries. Poland, Latvia and Lithuania are also winners in terms of favourable prospects for the development of business enterprises.

The survey conducted in February and March 2014 was taken by 1,435 companies with German capital with investments in Central and Eastern Europe, including 196 investors in Slovakia, 194 in Hungary, 142 in Poland, 141 in Czech Republic , 123 in Romania, and 105 in Croatia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Latvia, Estonia, and Kosovo.

Source: Polish-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (AHK Polen), June 2014