Hands, a renowned serial entrepreneur, said that if the UK maintains its weakened relationship with the European Union, it is destined to be poorer on a relative basis than the bloc, according to Bloomberg.
In light of Brexit, the UK investor warned that his country was finding itself in a "geriatric decline" and that only radical measures could reverse this perilous situation, Bloomberg said on its website on Friday.
“At the moment, the UK has only two choices if it wants to be competitive on the world stage,” Hands told this week’s episode of Bloomberg’s In the City podcast.
“Either it dismantles much of what political parties spent 30 years putting in place, or it goes back to Europe,” he added.
“I look at the UK and see that, in 2030, Poland will be wealthier than we are,” Hands also said.
“And in 2040, we will be the poor man in Europe,” he predicted.
According to Poland’s Business Insider website, Hands' predictions echoed concerns previously voiced by the likes of Keir Starmer, the leader of Britain's Labour Party.
In February, Starmer said that “the British people are falling behind while our European neighbours get richer in the east, as well as in countries like France and Germany.”
Starmer added: "I'm not comfortable with that, not comfortable with a trajectory that will soon see Britain overtaken by Poland."
Keir Starmer. Photo: EPA/TOLGA AKMEN
Labour Party projections suggest that if the current growth rates persist, Poland will overtake the UK in terms of economic prosperity by 2030, with Hungary and Romania following suit by 2040, Business Insider said.
According to a report earlier this month by Britain's The Telegraph newspaper, Poland is on track to become wealthier than Britain by 2030 in terms of GDP per capita at purchasing power parity.
In an extensive feature in the Sunday Telegraph, David Johnson highlighted Poland's remarkable transition over the last 30-plus years, saying that the country "has become a hotbed for future-facing industries such as battery manufacturing and tech."
(mo/gs)
Source: Bloomberg, Business Insider
Click on the audio player above to listen to a report by Radio Poland's Michał Owczarek.