Poor February for Special Economic Zones

2010-03-07



This year has gone from bad to worse for the country’s 14 Special Economic Zones (SEZ), according to data on investment activity in February collected by Rzeczpospolita. Just five new investment projects were approved in the zones last month, down from 14 in January. Nine zones attracted no new investors in February, and six have yet to finalise a single investment in 2010, including three of the four zones located in Northern Poland.
The number of jobs to be created as a result of the newly-approved projects is 408, down from 597 in the previous month. At the same time, their total value, at PLN 209.6m (approx. €53.5m), is actually higher compared with PLN 173m (€44.1m) in January, thanks mainly to a PLN 150m (€38.3m) investment by Allied British Foods in the Kostrzyn-Slubice Special Economic Zone (the other four zones which secured new projects last month were Lodz, Walbrzych, Katowice, and Tarnobrzeg).
Experts blame continued weakness of foreign investment, shortage of attractive sites, and lengthy procedures.