Government bonds remain the most frequently chosen investment instrument in Poland. Nearly two-thirds of investors surveyed for the report “Polish Investor 2025” hold them in their portfolios. Foreign bonds are owned by 10% of respondents, while corporate bonds are held by 7%. These assets are also often cited as ones investors would like to add to their portfolios. Bonds make it possible to build a variety of investment strategies.
“Bond investments are suitable for everyone. The choice of a specific type of bond depends on an investor’s risk profile and investment horizon,” says Czesław Martysz, Vice President in the Debt Capital Markets team at Trigon DM, in an interview with Newseria. “If we have a more conservative profile, we tend to emphasize government bonds in our portfolios. If we are looking for higher returns, we may turn to corporate bonds or covered bonds. The stock exchange offers such opportunities—both through purchases on the secondary market and through primary issues available at brokerage houses.”
Returns on bonds are largely driven by interest rates in Poland. The expert notes that many issues are based on variable-rate benchmarks, including WIBOR, which affects current coupon payments.
“You can benefit not only from the coupon, but also from the fact that bond prices tend to rise over time as they approach maturity. You can also benefit when interest rates fall, because government bonds then gain in value,” explains Martysz.
The “Polish Investor 2025” report, prepared by iKsync and the Cracow University of Economics, shows that 63% of surveyed investors hold government bonds in their portfolios. These assets were also the most frequently indicated by non-investors as their preferred first investment (50% of responses). Far fewer investors hold foreign and corporate bonds (10% and 7%, respectively). About 15–16% of investors said they would like to add these assets to their portfolios as a priority.
“I would distinguish three portfolio-building strategies,” says the Trigon DM expert. “The first is a strategy based almost entirely on government bonds, spread over time and across different maturities, because the sovereign risk is low. Second, we can build a more aggressive portfolio composed, for example, of bonds issued by large, well-known companies such as Żabka or Allegro, where the risk is slightly higher but still relatively low—and that naturally comes with higher returns. The third type of portfolio is one where we add a larger number of issuers.” He emphasizes that diversification remains the most important principle, particularly to limit the impact of potential problems at individual companies.
Although bond investing is often seen as a calmer alternative to equities, the expert stresses that the time horizon is crucial. Shorter horizons are possible, but they require awareness of risk.
“Even if you have only a few to a dozen months, keeping risk and diversification in mind, it can be worth buying bonds that mature soon. This can be an alternative—albeit slightly riskier than bank deposits. A healthy time frame for investing in bonds with peace of mind is at least three to four years. That doesn’t mean you have to give up the investment if your horizon shortens. That’s what the stock exchange and the secondary market are for—to allow investors to exit their bond positions. Most investors don’t have major problems doing so,” says Martysz.
He also points to growing interest in the Catalyst bond market, both from issuers and investors. Catalyst lists government and non-government instruments, including corporate bonds, municipal bonds, and covered bonds.
