Poland is a very interesting place for foreign investors. Especially because of a large number of inhabitants (almost 40 millions), diversified economy in terms of sectors and easy access to Eastern and Western Europe and ambitious employees. 

Polish economy may be briefly depicted as:

• being robust and resilient to external shocks – mainly due to the country’s significant internal market and diversified export structure,
• offering safe environment for undertaking economic activity and long-term planning (stable prices, permanent GDP growth),
• having very low risk of a financial crisis (public sector debt amounts to 55.0 % GDP while the EU 27 average equals 80.0% GDP),
• offering investment possibilities  resulting from modernization of infrastructure and implementing modern technologies in corporations,
• being driven by a large number of agile small and medium enterprises (over 3 000 000 registered entities).

Variable	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
GDP (bn PLN)*	780	809	843	925	983	1,060	1,175	1,266	1,342	1,412	1,470b)
GDP change (preceding year=100)*	101.2	101.4	103.9	105.3	103.6	106.2	106.7	104.8	101.8	105.1	104.1b)
FDI inflow (EUR million)**	6,372	4,371	4,067	10,237	8,330	15,741	16,674	10,970	8,384	7,351	2363c)
Unemployment rate (%)*	17.5	20.0	20.0	19.0	17.6	14.8	11.2	9.5	9.5	12.3	13.1d)
Exports (EUR million)**	46,537	49,338	53,836	65,847	77,562	93,406	105,893	114,566	96,326	586,994	38026,4c)
Imports (EUR million)**	55,094	57,039	58,913	70,399	79,804	98,945	118,262	139,329	105,045	559,521	39280,4c)
External trade turnover (EUR million)**	101,631	106,377	112,749	136,246	157,366	192,351	224,155	259,895	201,371	183,456	-
External trade balance (EUR million)**	-8,557	-7,701	-5,077	-4,552	-2,242	-5,539	-12,369	-24,761	-8,719	-3,302	-
Inflation rate (CPI, preceding year=100)*	105.5	101.9	100.8	103.5	102.1	101.0	102.5	104.2	103.5	102.6	103.8e)
Source: *Central Statistical Office (GUS), **National Bank of Poland (NBP) a) data from I-III Q of 2010 b) European Commission forecast: http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/articles/eu_economic_situation/pdf/2011-03-01-interim_forecast_en.pdf c) As of Feb 2011 d) As of Mar 2011 e) As of 1st quarter 2011

Basic information about Poland

Area	312,679 km2
Population	38.1 m
Capital	Warsaw agglomeration: population 2.5 million
Administrative divisions	16 Voivodships, 314 Poviats, 2478 Municipalities
Legislative Branch	Sejm (460 representatives), Senat (100 representatives)
Executive Branch	President (5 year term), Council of Ministers (4 year term)
Judicial Branch	Supreme Court, common courts, administrative courts, military courts
Time zone	GMT +1
Currency	1 Zloty (PLN) = 100 Groszy
Life expectancy	Females 79.7, males 71.0