Following a successful series of regional conferences and business networking mixers, the time has come for Warsaw. And so the BPCC held its Doing Business in 2022 conference at the offices of CBRE on 22 June, attracting a good audience of senior business leaders. The aim – as with the events in Poznań, Wrocław and Katowice – was to present the key macroeconomic and market trends that will shape the business environment in the short term.
After an introduction and welcome from Paweł Siwecki, the CEO of the BPCC, and Daniel Bienias, managing director, CBRE Poland, Piotr Bielski, director of the Economic Analysis Department at Santander Bank Polska described the macroeconomic situation and how it is likely to develop. Mr Bielski anticipated that the Polish economy is likely to enter a mild technical recession (two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth) towards the end of this year, with inflation peaking around 16% in August. Signs of a slowdown are already visible, he said, also mentioning the economic effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Michael Dembinski, the chief advisor to the BPCC, then moderated a panel discussion at which issues raised during the presentation were considered in detail, with a focus on HR, real estate and trade.
Panellists were Jolanta Zarecka-Sawicka, partner at Grant Thornton, who spoke about the upcoming amendments to the Polish labour code proceeding through parliament, in particular new regulations concerning remote work. Aleksander Hofman-Delbor, CBRE’s director for advisory and transaction services gave an overview of the Warsaw office market, explaining how uncertainty is holding back new development. Christopher Brzozka, senior associate manager at Michael Page, discussed the current state of white-collar recruitment and how wage pressures are fuelling inflation. Santander Bank Polska’s head of US and UK corridor, Magdalena Kusa joined Piotr Bielski on the panel to talk about trade, and connecting buyer and seller across borders and continents.
Following a Q&A session with participants, there was time for one-to-one discussions and a chance to inspect CBRE’s new premises, fitted out to reflect the workplace of the future.
The conference was followed by the Nice to Meet You Again cocktail business networking mixer, marking the BPCC’s 30th anniversary, held at the Hotel Bristol, a Luxury Collection Hotel, with superb summer cocktails professionally prepared courtesy of Wyborowa Pernod Ricard. Splendid weather and a great turnout helped make this a memorable day for all.
