The paper presents an analysis of the shift in the ownership policy of the Polish government in offi ce since 2015 towards a more active role of the state and a more reluctant attitude towards privatisation. This shift refl ects a general change in the paradigm of the role of the state towards the concept of the state as a strong market player, which includes the strengthening of its ownership functions. Among others, it has led to stalling the privatisation process and concentrating only on

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... fi scal goals. Possible factors causing this statist shift are divided into two dichotomic groups: the government's good faith vs. the impact of rent-seeking interest groups and endogenous vs. exogenous factors. Our main conclusion is that despite similarities with the trends observed in some other countries, endogenous factors such as increasing capture of the state by rent-seeking groups, and not the exogenous ones, including the global fi nancial crisis, contributed most to the growing statist trends in the Polish state's ownership policy.