The EU’s executive on Friday predicted that the Polish economy will expand 3.6 percent next year, 0.2 percentage points more than it expected in May.
Poland's projected growth rates are among the highest in the 27-member European Union, of which it has been part since 2004, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
"Following a prolonged and broad-based stagnation, the EU economy resumed growth in the first quarter of this year," the European Commission said in its Autumn 2024 Economic Forecast.
It added that "the expansion continued at a subdued, yet steady, pace throughout the second and third quarters, amidst further abating inflationary pressures."
The EU's economic outlook "remains highly uncertain," according to the Commission, as "Russia's protracted war of aggression against Ukraine and the intensified conflict in the Middle East fuel geopolitical risks and continued vulnerability of European energy security."
The forecast warned that "a further increase in protectionist measures by trading partners could weigh on global trade, with negative impact on the EU's highly open economy."
The World Bank last month raised its forecast for Polish economic growth this year to 3.2 percent, from a previous projection of 3 percent.
Poland’s central bank on November 8 predicted that the Polish economy would expand 2.7 percent this year, followed by 3.4 percent growth in 2025 and 2.8 percent in 2026.
Polish lawmakers this month approved plans to amend this year’s budget amid lower-than-expected tax revenues and additional spending on cleanup after recent floods. The revised financial plan maintains an economic growth target of 3.1 percent in 2024.
Poland's gross domestic product expanded by 0.2 percent in 2023, after growing 5.6 percent in 2022, according to the state-run Statistics Poland (GUS) agency.
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Source: IAR, PAP