Since 2008 economic analysis would rarely call the last five years of global growth dynamic and with the shine recently coming off the Bricsgroup of nations then it appears a country at the center of Europe is bucking the trend in a recent report by the World Bank it suggests that Poland is going through a ''Golden Age''

Marcin Piatkowski, a World Bank economist, makes the really persuasive argument that central Europe’s most significant economy is experiencing its most significant period of stability since the country emerged on the map of European more than one thousand years ago.

The explanation is mainly due to the significant economic reforms made by Poland after the collapse of communism  in 1989 – Poland experienced some of the most ruthless nevertheless beneficial changes found in any post-communist country – which set free a wave of private business and economic development which has seen Poland expand each year since 1992. Poland is the only European Union economy not to be pulled into economic recession during the last 20 years.

Some key points from the report:

As a result, in 2013 Poland has accomplished greater degrees of income, better quality of life, and well-being never experienced before in its history. In 2013 Polands, GDP per capita should reach 62 % of the level of income in the developed countries of Western Europe (Euro-area 17), Poland’s natural benchmark and an objective of social aspirations, up from below 30 % levelsin 1992. It can also attain the highest possible amount of earnings relative to Western Europe since the year 1500, hence in a mere 20 years offsetting greater than 500 years of economic decline, a historically unparalleled accomplishment.

Poland started its actual economic slide in the 16th century. Whilst western Europe was witnessing the growth of cities which was a catalyst for the industrial revolution, Poland’s cities shrank as it grew to be a badly-ruled exporter of timber and grain to the rest of the European continent. Poland lost its independence for longer than a century, suffered frequent harrowing wars last but certainly not least 40 years of inept communist rule, the country was considered  a basket case in 1989.

The liberal and somewhat radical  “shock therapy” financial reforms begun in 1989 changed all that. Poland came back to growth in 1992, a lot sooner than its generally more conservative ex-communist neighbors.

Poland has now become twice as wealthy as it was in 1989, it has the best economic record of any European economy during the last 20 years. Slovakia, the next-best performer , has grown by about 72 % from 1989 to 2012, whilst over the same period the old EU-15 economies grew by just over 40 %.

Calculated in purchasing power parity, Poland’s development is actually starker, with GDP per capita expanding from $7,300 in 1995 to $21,000 in 2012, beating all the Briceconomies, fast-growing wealthy nations for instance like Ireland and South Korea, as well as other leading developing economies such as Mexico, Malaysia and Turkey.

Piatkowski believes that Poland’s catch-up growth still possesses some energy to continue.

For the near future Poland is nicely positioned to carry on converging with Western Europe. Long-term projections by the European Commission, the OECD and independent forecasters suggest that Poland will most likely achieve up to 80 % of the EU-15 level of income by 2030, the strongest relative level ever. In accomplishing this, Poland will largely switch from the economic periphery of Europe, “Europe’s 3rd world” , in which it has languished for centuries, to the European economic center.