The European Commission on Thursday raised its forecast for Polish economic growth from 3.2 percent to 3.5 percent for 2017, and from 3.1 percent to 3.2 percent in 2018.
“The continuation of solid growth in private consumption, together with a recovery in investment, is forecast to lead to faster economic growth in 2017 and 2018,” the commission said.
In response to this, deputy Prime Minister and Development and Finance Minister Mateusz Morawiecki thinks the forecast is “too conservative”, adding that that Poland’s 2017 GDP growth rate may also exceed the government’s own “cautious” target of 3.6 percent.
Morawiecki also suggested in the interview that, although definitive figures are not yet available, Poland’s economic growth in the first quarter of this year was probably faster than most economists had expected.
The EC also noted that the Polish labour market is performing well, predicting that unemployment will fall from 6.2 percent – as calculated using Eurostat’s methods – in 2016 to 5.2 percent in 2017 and 4.4 percent in 2018.
However, the commission said that a recently introduced lower retirement age could put pressure on the workforce.
The commission also predicted an increase in inflation from 1.8 percent this year to 2.1 percent in 2018.
Source: Radio Poland
