Official – steep decline in Poland’s 2012 economic growth
PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle
29.01.2013 11:50
GDP growth amounted to 2.0 percent in 2012, down from 4.3 percent the year before, Poland’s Central Statistical Office (GUS) has announced.
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"In 2012, domestic demand grew by 0.1 percent, with GDP growth of 2.0 percent. In 2011, domestic demand grew by 3.4 percent in real terms. with GDP growth of 4.3 percent,” GUS said in a statement released on Tuesday morning.
“The data is close to market expectations and point to a further slowdown in GDP growth in the fourth quarter,” Piotr Łysienia, chief economist at Bank Pocztowy told the TVN 24 news station.
“What is very clear is that there was a decline in private consumption in the fourth quarter of last year, by 1.0 percent, year-n-year, which was affected by the difficult situation on the labour market and limited access to bank loans. On the other hand, [the level of ] investments is a positive surprise [and they] remain the main driver of growth,” he added.
Chief economist at the Polish Business Council, Janusz Jankowiak, told Polish Radio that 2 percent GDP growth is better than some of the more pessimistic forecasts, however, and puts this down to “a very good first half of the year, especially in the first quarter, which saw growth of 4 percent”. (pg)