Poland up in economic freedom index

Poland came 39th globally in the Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal's 2016 Index of Economic Freedom, up three places from last year's list.

Poland scored 69.3 points in the index. In this year's survey Poland showed the biggest improvement in ownership rights (+5.0 points), the level of corruption (+1.0), conditions for business (+1.4), monetary policy (+3.9) and investment freedom (+5.0).

"We are seen in a very positive light ... in terms of the market's openness and monetary policy, but there is still a lot to be done in public spending and the labour market", said Marcin Nowacki from the Warsaw Enterprise Institute at a conference presenting the results.

It is worth focusing on those elements of the index in which Poland is doing the worst, according to deputy PM and Development Minister Mateusz Morawiecki who attended the conference. "We will do our best to introduce appropriate solutions to change this", he added.

He pointed to public procurement as an area where changes could improve Poland's standing. "We would like an innovation criterion to count ... and to see certain preferences for small and medium-sized businesses", the minister said, adding that e-administration would be made more efficient.

The leading countries in Europe according to the index are Switzerland (81.0 points), Ireland (77.3), Estonia (77.2), the UK (76.4) and Denmark (75.3).

"The level of economic freedom largely depends on the political will of governments. Proof of this is visible in the position of countries like Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. They had similar experiences to Poland's but quicker came to understand that it is the government's duty to stimulate the economy, for instance by removing bureaucratic barriers", remarked Warsaw Enterprise Institute head Robert Gwiazdowski.

The index, globally led by Hong Kong (88.6 points), Singapore (87.8) and New Zealand (81.6), encompasses 178 countries. (PAP)

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