Poland’s National and Foreign Debt

The beginning of a global economic crisis can be identified with the collapse of Lehman Brothers, an American investment bank. Liberalization and deregulation processes enhanced competition on the market of goods and services and also on the market of loans, granted to persons and entities of decreasing repayment capacity. The crisis triggered large scale interventionism which in turn led to a substantial growth of public debt. A lack of consequences in implementing the procedures of excessive debt must be considered the major cause of a widespread growth of public debt in the EU member states. This policy is responsible for the fact that the average public debt of EU countries in 2010 amounted to 80% of the GDP with 85.1% in the eurozone. The Polish public debt at the end of 2011 was 53.5% of the GDP. Measures aimed at reducing the public debt of the member states to the level provided for in the Treaty of Maastricht must be appreciated. The considered solutions include the so-called “six pack” and Treaty on the Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union. Ratification of those agreements and their implementation in respective constitutional arrangements would be desirable.