Economic growth and the financial inclusion: The case of Poland

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to show that the market-oriented transformation initiated in 1989 has resulted in a rapid expansion and thorough modernisation of the Polish banking sector, and as a consequence has provided all parts of the Polish population with better access to banking services. However, as the Polish economy has been undergoing rapid transformation, not all of its segments have benefited from a better quality and wider range of products to the same extent, particularly in the countryside. Polish agriculture currently employs about 20% of the total workforce, but it contributes only in 3.4% to the GDP. Most farms have always been privately owned, but they remain small and fragmented. Out of 12.7 millions of employed in 2004, 2 millions are self-employed on small private farms, with low incentives to gain access to more sophisticated financial services. However, after accession to the EU, this sector benefits a great deal form agricultural transfers form the EU budget and exports of food products has been soaring. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.