Life in Poland - ECONOMY

Here is what my penpal in Poznan is telling me, PolAm.
"The economy is turning around very weakly in Poland, wages are falling in real terms, and consumption is milking, you can't count on investments either, inflation is still very high and I don't see it to start falling anytime soon."

@johnny reb
I can tell you for veg and fruits we are paying somewhere near double from last year on some items. Meats up about 30%. Wages though, I am starting servers at restaurant at 25 zl per hour, which is 8 more than most places, and still have toruble finding people. Cook at 30 an hour to start before a nice salary after 60 days, and still they want more. Very hard to not pass increases on to consumer without killing your own customer base. Difficult times indeed.

Exactly my point, wages have not doubled so in essence wages buying power has gone down.
Difficult in Poland is putting it mildly, how do people in Poland make it with three or four children ?
The restaurant business is the last business I would want to own.
When you buy a restaurant you are married to it 24/7.

If you are married, you are always married 24/7. To open a gourmet restaurant was always my dream.....and will remein a dream.

Indeed but yet there still seems to be a property boom, at the very least a building boom, inflation is running around 17% yoy but the central bank is keeping rates on hold, seems like a very precarious economic setup, the hope is perhaps the external environment improves but I can't see that happening.

I would love to see a chart of mortgage affordability for housing in Poland it has to have crashed over the last few years. Reminds me a little bit of Celtic Tiger Ireland circa 2006/7.

They make it OK if they are teachers of English..... Ha!

One of the (very) few good things that party has done is introduce 500+.

@Charliesy
There is a building boom, not a property buying boom. A friend of mine just bought the realestate her business is located in the other day for just under 550 K. The payback in 15 year loan? A million. Interest rates for commercial property at 18%. Insanity. Home purchasing way down in Krakow anyway, so many flats available it is almost humorus. Commecial realestate leasing costs are way down though.

Polish fuel company Orlen owns 3500 filling stations in other countries. Foreign customers are pleased with the quality and the service.

I hope that other Czechs will not take offense at my words, but I must admit that since our petrol stations were taken over by Poles, the service has improved significantly. After the renovation, this station is clean, fragrant, has delicious coffee and tasty hot dogs. The shops at the station, although small, are also much better equipped than before. To sum up: customer service has improved significantly since the Orlen logo appeared on the pylon.
onet.pl/informacje/onetwiadomosci/sprawdzilismy-stacje-orlenu-w-europie-kasjerka-byla-zaskoczona-nasza-prosba/6rlkf2w,79cfc278

Quoting:
Growing economic and geopolitical uncertainty, the Polish government has made a bold appeal to its citizens: save cash at home and prepare for potential challenges ahead.
This move comes as Poland braces for what it sees as an increasingly unstable global financial landscape.
Facing the looming possibility of a financial crisis, Poland has started implementing measures to protect its economy and citizens.
Among these initiatives, the government has begun stockpiling cash reserves in national banks to ensure liquidity during potential financial turbulence.

Oh it's coming alright.
Did you see the U.S. stock market plunge yesterday ?

No I didn't ! I was drinking all day.

Maybe need to go check my portfolio

@johnny reb
I did see the dip, and am not concerned. Diollar cost averaging is the key to long term investing.

Eurostat map showing unemployment in the EU in January 2025 (the general EU unemployment rate was 5.8%):

ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-euro-indicators/w/3-04032025-ap

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  unemployment.jpg