As the economy emerges from the COVID-19 shutdown, the slump was slightly less severe than forecast by analysts, who had expected a drop of 18 percent, Poland’s PAP news agency reported.
In month-on-month terms, Polish industrial production in May rose by 10.1 percent compared with April, according to the Central Statistical Office.
The latest batch of economic data came after the state-run statistics agency reported on Thursday that employment in Polish companies dropped by 3.2 percent in May on average in year-on-year terms, while falling by 1.4 percent from a month earlier.
A survey at the end of April found one in eight Polish companies had laid off staff and almost one in five had cut wages amid the coronavirus crisis.
The Polish labour minister said this month that some 5 million jobs have been saved in Poland thanks to measures including a massive relief and stimulus package that aims to shield the economy from the coronavirus.
A total of 31,316 people have tested positive for the COVID-19 disease in Poland, with 1,334 deaths from the coronavirus so far, public health officials announced on Friday.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said last week that Poland was likely to experience the smallest fall in gross domestic product in the European Union amid the pandemic.
Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Development Minister Jadwiga Emilewicz said last month that, despite being hit by the coronavirus, Poland could avoid falling into a recession this year, and that its economy should rebound strongly next year.
The European Commission has predicted that Poland will cope with the fallout of the coronavirus crisis better than any other economy in the EU.
The Polish economy grew 2 percent in the first quarter of this year, the country’s Central Statistical Office reported at the end of last month.
(gs/pk)
Source: PAP