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The 'Anti-Crisis Shield' is too small

Poland is facing a great social and economic test that has never been seen before. Government proposals need to be revised. The economy expects larger and concrete support. Assurances alone are not enough. We urge the entire administration to take into account the positions of entrepreneurs when preparing countermeasures to enable them to get through this crisis and start anew in new conditions. If we take into account the propositions of business practitioners, in the future we can turn out to be stronger than we have been before.

No developed country has undergone such a test for several decades. The activity of many industries at all levels – production, logistics, sales – is already out of balance. This is also the case with our main economic partners. Production companies cannot find other outlets. They will not manage even if they operate in international capital groups. This was not the case in the year 2000 or 2009. This upcoming wave of crisis requires more significant support instruments than in previous proposals, such as those presented by many other countries in our region.

Unfortunately, we consider the proposed changes as industry to be insufficient. Currently proposed support mechanisms are targeted mainly at micro, small and medium-sized companies, while they only constitute one of many elements of the entire value chain. In industry, SMEs are co-operators in the supply chain to large companies or logistics and transport. Their role is extremely important, however, when large institutions are put on hold, they will lose their contracts.

We lack some fundamental solutions in the government’s proposals, including:

Introducing protective mechanisms for all enterprises, regardless of their size and capital sources,

The state taking over the payment of sickness allowance from the first day of illness or quarantine in the amount of 100% of the insured person's salary,

More support in co-financing jobs – e.g. taking over the payment of 60% of employees' salaries from an employer who noted a decline of min. 15% in inflows when compared to March 2020,
Extinction of public tributes of entrepreneurs for 6 months, starting from the liabilities for March 2020 - VAT, PIT, CIT, Social Insurance.

These and more detailed changes that we have sent to the government could improve industry operations and should be implemented immediately. The lack of support for large institutions can mean immediate dismissal of up to 25% of employees. Which in the case of only FRP members means about 200,000 people. Looking at the excessively bureaucratic procedures of support for micro companies and SMEs, we know that a large part of them will prefer to suspend operations and dismiss employees than to try to use the already too limited and difficult to obtain support.

– The changes proposed by the government should constitute a larger protective umbrella than in the draft presented on Wednesday. The survival of the Polish economy and the maintenance of the Polish industry are extremely important at the moment. It is taking risks at this difficult time that is the only way to protect against economic recession and the loss of thousands of jobs – indicates dr inż. Tomasz Zieliński, President of the Polish Chamber of Chemical Industry, initiator and chairman of Forum Rozwoju Przemysłu.

We urge the government and parliament to pay close attention to the postulates and detailed comments on bills proposed by the industry, which are aimed at securing the Polish economy during the epidemic and the expected effects of the situation in Poland and in the world. The economy cannot cope alone. The support package must be larger and the actual package will not work! The price for this will be paid by companies, which have been developing for several decades, and their employees.

Source: Forum Rozwoju Przemysłu