Polish Economic Ministry predicts 1.5% GDP growth

The Economic Ministry has announced that year-end GDP should measure about 1.5 percent growth while third quarter GDP growth measured 1.7 percent.

In a report entitled “Analysis of the Economic Situation in Poland between January-September 2009,” that industrial production figures would fall by 3.5 percent for the whole year. In 2009, it predicts that GDP growth will measure about 1.5 percent, a figure that has been influenced by external factors including the credit market and measures taken against the global financial crisis. The Ministry's Department of Analyses and Prognoses predicts that the country's third quarter GDP growth measures 1.7 percent. Ministry analysts foresee a fall in production for the year on end measuring about 3.5 percent on average. The January-October period has seen a drop in production of about five and a half percent, though the third quarter has seen some improvement.

It is important to note that the decrease in production in III quarter was not as severe as in previous quarters, which may indicate a gradual end to a negative trend in industrial output growth which began already in the fourth quarter of 2008.