Poland

The Polish construction industry is facing its third crisis since the country joined the EU in 2004, with over 700 companies declaring bankruptcy in 2024, a 40% increase from the previous year, the Warsaw Business Journal reported. Small firms, especially in installation, renovation, and general construction, are struggling the most. Key factors include delays in disbursing funds from the National Reconstruction Plan (KPO), stagnation in railway investments, and slow progress in energy transformation discussions.
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Poland extended its period of interest-rate stability to one year after inflation picked up beyond the central bank’s tolerance range, Bloomberg News reported. The Monetary Policy Council kept its benchmark at 5.75% in line with the forecasts of all 35 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The decision comes after regional peers in the Czech Republic and Hungary both reduced rates and the Federal Reserve eased its monetary policy for the first time in four years with a half-point rate reduction.
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Polish energy sector construction firm Rafako, based in the town of Racibórz, lodged an application for bankruptcy in a court on Thursday and its shares were suspended from trading on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, TVP World reported. “Without a deal on our debt it will be impossible to find a strategic investor for the company. It will also be impossible to continue operations or a return to trading on the stock market,” company chairman Maciej Stańczuk told the Businessinsider website, after attempts to persuade creditors to take shares in the firm in exchange for debt fell apart.

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Poland’s central bank left borrowing costs unchanged yet again, defying growing pressure to restart monetary easing, Bloomberg News reported. The Monetary Policy Council kept its benchmark at 5.75% — the level where it’s been since last October — in line with the forecasts of all 31 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The decision comes amid calls by government officials to reduce interest rates to help boost economic growth and as other eastern European central banks ease policy.
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