Resource information
Improving the investment climate is a
key pillar of the World Bank's private sector
development strategy. Without a good investment climate,
firms and entrepreneurs of all types-from farmers to
micro-enterprises to local manufacturing concerns and
multinationals-have few opportunities and incentives to
invest productively, create jobs, and expand, enter and
remain in the formal economy, and thereby contribute to
growth and poverty reduction. Growth and private sector
development encompass a very broad agenda, but in
Poland's case such a challenge boils down to the
objective of reducing the convergence time to the standard
of living of the European Union (EU)-15 countries. Sound
macroeconomic policy, debt sustainability, open trade,
security, access to finance, good governance and quality
infrastructure services are all key requirements for the
private sector to flourish. These conditions need to be
complemented by micro-economic reforms-the policies and
institutions that support efficient private economic
activity-that help to unleash competitive forces leading to
increased productivity and competitiveness. The Poland
Investment Climate Assessment (ICA) is the first ICA piloted
in the World Bank's Europe and Central region in 2004,
adding to the stock of knowledge from the many other country
reports prepared worldwide. The Poland ICA provides
benchmark data to assess firm-level performance in other
countries in the Europe and Central Asia region. The report
also analyses Poland's strengths and weaknesses in the
context of a regional comparison, with the EU-8 countries,
which recently joined the European Union, the cohesion
countries, and the other EU member countries.
