Mateusz Morawiecki announces support for nearly a thousand companies, including private ones, which are most dependent on energy and gas prices. Interestingly, Waldemar Buda, the Minister of Development and Technology, says the companies covered by the aid will be … around 250.
– But how will you choose these companies? Will there be a draw? – asks in an interview with Business Insider Kamil Biliński, the owner of the plant, whose gas bill will soon be jump up to 16 times. We talk to other companies. They fear that government help will get “rabbit friends”, not those who need it most. – Will there be a list of the prime minister or a list of the president? Well, we won’t be able to deal with the crisis, they say.
However, even if the aid is distributed according to clearly defined rules, it will not do much good. A real disaster awaits companies from next year. Minister Waldemar Buda says the support will amount to around PLN 5 billion. Companies can count from 2 to 25 million euros.
Kamil Sobolewski, chief economist at Employers of the Republic of Poland, can’t do without it. Remember that the aid to companies from the shields in the covid crisis amounted to about 230 billion PLN. According to the expert, according to current forecasts, the impending crisis will not be as shocking to the economy as the start of the lockdown. However, without state support, Polish companies will receive blows that may not survive. – The game is already about who will survive. Which sectors of the economy in which countries. Is the Polish government playing this game? I’m not sure – says Sobolewski.
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“The glass will break”
– The government worries families by announcing the freezing of energy prices. However, consumption is driven by production. What will the Poles buy if the plants stop? – asks the economist. One solution could be to increase imports. But this is a very dangerous scenario for our economy. It is already terrible now. According to the Central Statistical Office, the foreign trade deficit from January to July amounted to 12 billion euros.
– It could be said that there is a battle here and now over who will survive the high energy prices and stay in the game in a year, two or a few years – says an expert on Employers from the Republic of Poland.
And foreign companies can survive. The economist admits that directly supporting companies can be difficult due to EU regulations. However, he points to the example of France, where the state recently nationalized the key energy company EDF. The expert wonders if a company so nationalized cannot “talk differently” with French companies about prices.
Another thing is that foreign companies usually have larger liquidity stocks than Polish ones.
– Businesses make decisions here and now. And stopping production is a far-reaching decision. Let’s take a blast. It takes up to a year to turn it back on, says the expert.
He compares the situation of industrial companies to a glass, whose production takes time, but can be broken “in two seconds”. The biggest problem, however, is putting it together once it breaks. Sometimes this task is impossible.
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“Broken Despair for Surrender”
However, if targets are impossible at the moment, Sobolewski would like the government to at least prepare a program for increasing energy prices in the near future. It is better, of course, that the rates are frozen for some time. – Having such a program, such specifications, the company will at least have time to adapt – he says. At this point, according to the analyzes of the Employers of the Republic of Poland, companies massively suspend investments – even two thirds of companies do so. However, according to Sobolewski, the government still has time to act.
– Another thing is that the war in Ukraine has been going on for six months. There was time for the government to prepare for the crisis, adds Sobolewski.
Kamil Biliński, whose gas bill will exceed his company’s monthly income from January, does not yet know if he can benefit from government aid for energy-intensive companies and has no idea when he will find out. We asked the Chancellery of the President of the Council for the rules for granting aid to businesses, but we did not receive an answer until publication.
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Our other respondents admit that energy problems starting in January could prove to be insurmountable problems. – There is simply no solution to this. Investments in alternative sources? Firstly, it’s too late, and secondly, it won’t do much for a large plant – the owner of a large factory in central Poland tells us.
Kamil Sobolewski admits that there has never been such a bad mood in Polish affairs.
– So far, Polish entrepreneurs have treated the crisis as an opportunity. Now, sadly, we can see despair, and sometimes even capitulation – admits.
Author: Mateusz Madejski, reporter for Business Insider Polska
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