At the end of October, Polish firms had a total of zł.183 billion in the bank, according to figures from the National Bank of Poland, as cited by Gazeta Wyborcza.

This is a record amount and an increase of zł.58 billion in comparison to the total recorded in January 2007, before the crisis.

Most experts agree that the current euro-zone crisis and market anxiety being experienced in Europe and elsewhere are major reasons that firms are not willing to make investments right now.

The phenomenon is not restricted to Poland. At the end of the third quarter of 2011, the Federal Reserve reported that US firms had amassed record cash reserves of $2.12 trillion.