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Polish economy shrinks 8.2% in Q2 2020: flash estimate

14.08.2020 10:05
The Polish economy contracted 8.2 percent in the second quarter of this year, the country’s Central Statistical Office (GUS) said on Friday in a flash estimate.
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Economists polled by state news agency PAP had expected a drop of 9 percent amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Poland's gross domestic product grew 2 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to a final estimate released by the state-run statistics agency in late May.

The Polish economy expanded by 4.1 percent in 2019 as a whole, after posting 5.3 percent growth in 2018, according to the Central Statistical Office.

Amid the coronavirus disruption, Polish Finance Minister Tadeusz Kościński said this month that the Polish economy was expected to contract by 4.6 percent in 2020 as a whole.

He added that this would be the smallest drop in the 27-nation European Union, where the average fall was expected to be over 8 percent.

"Next year we forecast that we will rebound by about 4 percent, so by the end of next year we will be in the same place,” Kościński was also quoted as saying.

Poland’s central bank last month updated its GDP growth forecasts for the country, saying it expected the economy to contract by 5.4 percent this year, followed by 4.9 percent growth in 2021.

The European Commission forecast in July that the Polish economy would shrink 4.6 percent in 2020 amid the coronavirus crisis but then rebound to expand by 4.3 percent in 2021.

(gs)

Source: PAP