Polish citizens have withdrawn nearly 1 billion PLN from Employee Capital Scheme (PPK) since the beginning of 2024, with a record-breaking 500 million PLN withdrawn in the second quarter alone, according to a report by Gazeta Wyborcza.
Citing data from the Financial Supervision Authority (KNF), the newspaper highlighted that 187,000 Poles withdrew a total of 498 million PLN from PPK during this period, marking the highest quarterly withdrawal since the program’s inception. For comparison, only 139 million PLN was withdrawn in the same period in 2022, and 400 million PLN in 2023.
The first half of 2024 saw almost 1 billion PLN withdrawn from the program, including 460 million PLN in the first quarter.
Dr. Łukasz Wacławik, from the AGH University of Science and Technology, commented on Poles’ low trust in social security systems, including ZUS (Social Insurance Institution). Many citizens are skeptical about whether the savings they accumulate will be available to them in retirement, which fuels their cautious approach to PPK.
Despite the withdrawals, the Polish Development Fund reports that participation in PPK reached 49.23% by September 2024, with 4.3 million active accounts. The value of assets increased by 800 million PLN in September alone, reaching a total of 29.08 billion PLN.