Economic theory suggests that free capital flows increase the efficiency of the resource allocation and stimulate economic growth. Foreign direct investment (FDI) is seen as a remedy for all economic problems in countries that do not have a sufficient level of accumulation to start economic growth. According to economic criteria of Copenhagen, countries that are in the process of European integration should have a functioning market economy able to cope with competition and market forces within the European Union. The greatest expectations regarding the development of a competitive economy in the Southeast European (SEE) countries are precisely related to attraction and exploitation of the positive effects of FDI. This paper explores the impact of FDI on economic growth of the Central European (CE) countries and the SEE countries. The experience of the CE countries can be beneficial for the SEE countries following them in the process of European integration. The results show that FDI flows to the SEE region are significantly lower than to the CE region. Panel analysis has shown a statistically significant impact of FDI on economic growth inboth regions. However, in absolute terms the impact of FDI on economic growth inthe SEE region is almost negligible.

The economic authorities of each country seek to maintain the expansion phase through the implementation of various economic policy measures, namely, to prevent or mitigate the recessionary phase in economic development. In that context, it is of considerable importance to understand how monetary policy decisions affect the movement of macroeconomic variables. The paper aims to examine and evaluate the contribution of monetary policy to mitigating the effects of the global economic and financial crisis, using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag model, by analysing the impact of the real exchange rate, reference interest rate and money supply on the level of economic activity in Poland. Econometric analysis encompasses the period from 2006 to 2017. The research results suggest that there is a significant relationship between real economic activity and the real exchange rate both in the short and long term, but not between the reference interest rate and the money supply.