According to one German newspaper, Poland is facing a financial crisis similar to the one that rocked Greece 15 years ago.
In an article highlighting points made by Berliner Zeitung, the Polish news outlet Do Rzeczy writes that the German warning of a potential economic crisis is real, despite Poland’s rapid economic growth, low unemployment, high military spending, and a pro-European image.
In addition, Berliner Zeitung warns that Poland should not think it will simply be bailed out, as it is not in the eurozone, the paper adds.
In his piece, Klaus Bachmann places blame squarely on excessive state debt created by PiS’ social programs, especially its flagship “500 plus,” which handed out PLN 500 per month for every Polish child. This later became the “800 plus” program, with PLN 800 handed out.
Bachmann stresses that this was a mistake, with or without the increase, as benefits should be limited to families that actually need support.
“From the point of view of society as a whole, the decision was disastrous – instead of providing more and better public services, which would help bridge the gap between the poor and the rich, the state distributed cash,” he wrote in Berliner Zeitung, adding that the current prime minister, Donald Tusk, took over a government with zero money in its treasury.
Meanwhile, Poland had been heavily boosting its military budget to build the strongest army in Europe and increase defense spending to 5 percent of GDP. Bachmann argues that, unfortunately, “something else was quietly growing even faster – social spending, the budget deficit, and the national debt.”
Economist Sławomir Dudek, quoted in the BZ article, says that in Poland “we have expenses as if we were Scandinavia, and we have taxes like Ireland.”
The paper notes that Poland is not a member of the eurozone, which means that “nobody will save it,” as was the case with Greece, because other countries were “afraid of a domino effect.”
“No one will bail out Poland to prevent a domino effect, as Angela Merkel did with Greece. Less than 13 percent of Polish debt is in foreign hands, so in the event of a crisis, banks will not be afraid of bankruptcy,” the paper warns.
