Poland's GDP growth to contract in first quarter
Poland's economic growth will go down by 0.5 percent in the first quarter of 2023 but will increase by 0.8 percent over the whole year, a government-affiliated economic think tank has said.
"February's retail sales and manufacturing data indicate that the Polish economy will weaken in the first quarter of 2023," the Polish Economic Institute (PIE) said on Friday.
"Following the latest readings, we estimate that the GDP growth will go down by 0.5 percent," PIE continued. "Asa result, we're downgrading our (2023 - PAP) GDP forecast. Now we're expecting growth of 0.8 percent, which is 0.6 percentage points less."
According to PIE, faltering household consumption is the main reason for the weak economic growth.
"We expect a one-percent decline in household spending in the first quarter and a mediocre growth in the second quarter (0.2 percent year on year)," PIE said.
Poland's growth will be more dependent on investment, PIE also said.
"We expect that the growth rate (of investment - PAP) to be close to 1-2 percent in subsequent quarters, which is still a quite good result," the think tank said, adding that investment will rebound in the second quarter of the year.
Net exports are going to be another contributor to economic growth, according to the researcher, adding between 0.3 and 0.4 percentage points. (PAP)
