Economists and representatives of financial institutions from Poland and Europe met in Sopot on September 13-15. The European Financial Congress was attended among others by presidents and board members of the 50 largest institutions from the financial sector, over 150 panellists from Poland and abroad, 150 media representatives and 60 students and doctoral students from Polish and foreign universities participating in the EFC Academy.
The initiator and coordinator of the European Financial Congress (EFC) is dr hab. Leszek Pawłowicz, prof UG, and the EFC programme board includes, among others: Dean of the Faculty of Economics UG - dr hab. Monika Bak, prof. UG and Dean of the Faculty of Management UG - prof. dr hab. Mirosław Szreder.
This year, the main theme of the Congress was "Finance in a changed reality". The reality of changes in the economy caused by the coronavirus pandemic and due to which the previous edition of EFC was virtual.
On the first day, guests were greeted by former Prime Minister Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, Chairman of the EFC Programme Council, and Magdalena Czarzyńska-Jachim, Deputy Mayor of Sopot. The guests also listened to speeches by Tadeusz Kościński, Minister of Finance, Funds and Regional Policy and Paweł Borys, President of the Management Board of the Polish Development Fund. Another item on the agenda was a very interesting debate led by Jan Krzysztof Bielecki with the participation of Leszek Balcerowicz, Marek Belka and Jerzy Hausner. They did not spare words of criticism against the current policy of the Monetary Policy Council, which maintains very low interest rates despite rising inflation, and against the government and its construction of the state budget in a non-transparent way, which makes it impossible to determine the actual public debt.
The three days of the congress also included discussions on such issues as how to finance climate policy in cities, the economic credibility of the state, the role of the capital market in post-pandemic economic recovery, the impact of tax policy on the financial market, the fight against digital exclusion and the challenges facing the banking sector.
Two books had their premieres at the Congress. Dan Breznitz, Professor at the University of Toronto 'Innovation in practice - how to build prosperity in a world that does not forgive' and Bohdan Wyżnikiewicz, President of the Management Board of the Institute for Economic Forecasts and Analyses 'Why some are rich and others are not'.
Maciej Goniszewski