The CEO of Poland’s state gas and oil company has said that Poland is ready to ensure its energy supplies without importing gas from Russia due to the diversification of its supplies and increasing Liquefied Natural Gas imports.
Speaking in an interview with Polish daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, the CEO said that the company had „done its homework” when it comes to diversifying gas imports, noting that it has signed contracts with US suppliers to buy Liquefied Natural Gas at a price which is 20-30 per cent lower than the price of gas from Russian energy giant Gazprom.

Source – Emerging Europe

Poland now world’s fourth largest exporter of video games

Polish exports of games, consoles and video game devices increased by an astonishing 3,810.5 per cent in the five-year period from 2013-18, making the country the fourth largest video game exporter in the world, behind only China, Hong Kong and Japan.

According to 300Gospodarka, a business news portal, which quotes data from the Polish bank PKO BP, the value of exports reached 1.24 billion euros in 2018, 6.5 per cent of the global total.

Source – Emerging Europe

Zubelewicz criticises low interest rates

Poland’s record low interest rates are artificially inflating house prices, encouraging people to get into debt and causing higher inflation, according to a Reuters report this week.

The report quotes Zublewicz, one of the members of Poland’s Monetary Policy Council (MPC) which has set a record low benchmark rate of 1.5% since March 2015.

However, he sees little chance of a rate hike any time soon.

Zublewicz concluded, „The current balance of power in the MPC means that interest rates will remain at their current level until the end of this Council’s term”.

The Polish central bank governor has repeatedly said rates may remain on hold until the MPC’s term ends in 2022.

Source: Reuters

Prosecutors notified of possible criminal negligence relating to scrapping of parts of historic Tczew bridge

The Pomeranian heritage conservator has ordered the local council in Tczew to stop demolition work and has notified the prosecutor’s office about the destruction of historic elements of the bridge over the River Vistula at Tczew.

The bridge, the longest to span the Vistula river, first built in 1857 is thought to be unique in Europe and has been undergoing major renovation for some time. During the works it was to be dismantled, moved ashore and registered in the register of monuments. However, one of the spans was partially dismantled and cut up with the intention of being sold for scrap metal.

The conservator pointed out that as a compilation of structural elements from several different periods, the Tczew bridge „aroused enormous interest of bridge specialist engineers from Europe and the United States”. Parts of the bridge were constructed using a design developed by the same British engineers that developed the bridgeheads used at the Normandy Landings in 1944 and were built by the same company that built  many famous bridges, including the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Victoria Falls Bridge and is the only one of its kind in Poland.

Source: RGEN/ TVP

The Weather

Today there will be sunny intervals in a moderate breeze with temperatures reaching  a very respectable 17 degrees centigrade (63 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day, but dropping to 6 degrees centigrade (43 degrees Fahrenheit) overnight.

Tomorrow will be cloudy and cooler with temperatures only reaching 13 degrees centigrade.

That was the R.G.E.N. news and weather.

What’s On

Highlights of what’s going on today and tomorrow in the Tricity

First up today we head to the musical theatre in the centre of Gdynia where „A window to the parliament” a comedic play based on the 1995 comic play „The Rules of Farce” by English playwright Ray Cooney. With translation by Elżbieta Woźniak this A British farce featuring a devious minister, a sexy opposition secretary, a gaping secretary, a nosy hotel manager, a mysterious wardrobe and … a corpse! You can expect funny dialogues, surprising twists and dark humour at its best. Tickets from 50 to 80 zl.

Today and Sunday from 10am on the Sobieszewska Island just outside Gdansk (reachable by public transport )  there will be a landkiting competition „Surf to Fly Gdańsk Landkite Cup 2019” – the finale of an unusual series of competitions combining all varieties of power kites with the land buggies and landboards. The competition will be accompanied by a rally of landkiting enthusiasts, tests of Ozone kites for landkiting, as well as kite buggy and mountainboard tests. People who practice kitesurfing will have the opportunity to try landkiting for the first time in their life for free.

Lechia Gdańsk are playing Górnik Zabrze this evening in the Polish Football Ekstra Klasa league at the Gdansk Energa Stadium in Letnica. Tickets cost between 15 and 55zl depending on the location in the ground and can be purchased online on the website bilet.lechia.pl or at the booths outside the stadium. Kick off is at 8pm and as always you can expect a great atmosphere at the stadium and a safe and enjoyable spectacle.