The research of the Polish Economic Institute (PIE) and Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego shows that 53% of Polish enterprises are helping Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees who came to Poland. Trade companies are the most involved in helping, and material aid is the most popular.

The survey of Polish enterprises was carried out as part of the May reading of the Monthly Economic Index at the beginning of May 2022 on a sample of 500 enterprises differentiated by size and industry.

“Among the various forms of assistance, material assistance is the most popular. Financial aid from the company’s funds was provided by only every fourth enterprise”, says Katarzyna Dębkowska from PIE. Every fifth company provided financial assistance through collections carried out by employees. Such a form of assistance was more often organized in large enterprises.

56% of large companies organized collections of food, medical products, clothes and donated the collected items to points organizing help for refugees. Similar actions took place in 22% of small businesses. Small companies, on the other hand, financed material assistance with the company’s funds more often than large ones.

Other forms of assistance include providing services or offering products free of charge. In particular, it was indicated by transport companies (35%) that provide services for transporting refugees from the border to their final destination. Also, 13% of respondents indicated that the shelter rooms were made available free of charge, mostly by service companies.

The authors of the study drew attention to the help provided by Polish citizens. They cited CBOS data from the turn of February and March, which shows that 68% of Poles declare that they are helping Ukrainians in some way. More than half of the surveyed Poles (57%) boycott Russian products. The companies boycott business cooperation with the Russian or Belarusian market.

The value of Poland’s military aid to Ukraine is estimated at PLN 7 billion (EUR 1.5 billion). In March, the Narodowy Bank Polski NBP offered the Central Bank of Ukraine a currency swap worth EUR 963 million. PIE analysts pointed out that after adding humanitarian aid, the total value of Polish aid to Ukraine has already exceeded EUR 2.5 billion, and aid for refugees was not included there. The Polish government estimates this additional EUR 2.1 billion (PLN 10 billion) will be provided by the end of the year.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński order