The government says the Polish economy will return to its pre-pandemic level

Krakow (Poland), May 14 (EFE). – Deputy Prime Minister of the Polish government, Jaroslaw Guen, confirmed this Friday that by the end of the year the Polish economy will be “at the level it was before the pandemic.”

He also announced the release of “better than expected” official data on GDP growth, unemployment and the public deficit.

According to a report by the Polish Statistical Office (GUS) published on Friday, GDP in the first quarter fell by only 1.2% year on year, compared to 2.7% recorded in the last quarter of 2020. Compared to the previous quarter, GDP grew by 0.9 %.

The data, “much higher than expectations” according to Gwin, confirm the forecast published by the European Commission this week, which improved the outlook for the Polish economy and corrected earlier growth forecasts upwards.

In a press release this week, Polish Economy Minister Tadeusz Kosinski said that “according to the latest forecasts, last year’s recession in Poland was among the mildest among EU countries, and only Ireland, Lithuania and Luxembourg fared better.”

According to estimates by the European Commission, the Polish economy will grow by 4 percent in 2021, approximately one point more than the forecast of 3.1, and it will improve further in 2022 with an expected growth of 5.4 percent.

In addition, unemployment in Poland is expected to be the lowest in the European Union, at 3.5 percent, and to fall further to 3.2 percent next year, making it the European economy with the lowest unemployment rate.

Despite restrictions on domestic trade, retail sales rose 17.1% y/y in March and industrial production grew at its fastest pace in 15 years.

The Polish specialized press considers that the Polish economy “has adapted to operate in an ‘epidemic situation'”.

On the other hand, Poland recorded the highest annual inflation rate in the EU in March at 4.4%, which is more than double the EU average (1.7%) and more than three times that of the Eurozone (1, 3%).

Inflation, which was 2.3% in 2020, may rise to 3.5% in 2021 according to experts, but will be corrected slightly next year, with a forecast of 2.9%. EFE