Bank credit in the financial structure of polish corporations a financial crisis

Summary
Polish companies were able to avoid the first wave of the global financial crisis because of their conservative approach. Polish firms were not significantly affected by the crisis because they were reluctant to use external sources of funding and unwilling to invest before their. Their innovation level was also low and their competitive strategy was based on low prices. In addition, the Polish companies were concentrated on the home market. The crisis hit in 2009, which was visible in the companies’ structure of funding and the share of bank financing. The aim of the article is an analysis of capital structure changes in Polish firms. Special attention is paid to volumes of bank financing in the context of the financial crisis. The study is based on GUS and NBP data. The results show that there was no decrease in the level of bank debt, on the contrary, an increase is visible especially in 2008. The volume of credit decreased only in 2009. Polish companies that are conservative in managing their funding sources are not optimistic, because they limit their investment activities and expect an increase in interest rate paid on bank loans.