European Commission lowers Poland’s GDP forecast
PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk
13.02.2017 14:48
The Polish economy grew 2.8 percent last year and is expected to grow 3.2 percent in 2017, the European Commission has said in a new forecast, revising downwards its projections for the country.
Photo: pexels.com
In November, the commission forecast Polish GDP would grow 3.1 percent in 2016 and 3.4 percent in 2017.
The Polish finance ministry pointed out that according to European Commission forecasts, Poland will be among the six fastest growing EU member states.
In its Winter 2017 Economic Forecast, published on Monday, the commission said it expected Polish GDP to grow 3.1 percent in 2018.
The lower-than-expected growth last year was mainly caused by an estimated 5.5 percent contraction in investment in 2016, the commission added.
“The apparent volatility through weak investment appears to be mainly related to the slow progress of projects financed by EU structural funds under the new programming period and increased policy and regulatory uncertainty,” the commission said.
It added that public investment is expected to rebound strongly in 2017 and 2018 as EU funds are put to use.
“Private investment is projected to recover gradually, helped by solid domestic demand and an outlook for further export growth.”
Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said earlier this month that the Polish economy is set to grow over 3 percent this year.
Poland’s 2017 budget is based on a forecast of 3.6 percent GDP growth this year.
(pk)
Source: PAP