Meanwhile, inflation is projected to stand at 3.7 percent this year, followed by 5.6 percent in 2025 and 3.4 percent in 2026, the National Bank of Poland (NBP) said in its latest Inflation Report, which was released on November 8.
In its previous projection, the bank had expected the Polish economy to grow 3 percent this year and 3.8 percent in 2025.
Slow GDP growth in CEE
According to the report, "economic conditions in the environment of the Polish economy have remained subdued" in recent months.
In the second quarter of 2024, "annual GDP growth was low in the euro area, as well as in the economies of Central and Eastern Europe," it said.
"In Germany, which is Poland’s main trading partner, the economy was in stagnation," the report added.
"Global economic conditions continued to be adversely affected by the effects of the earlier tightening of financial conditions and the supply shocks of the previous years," the Polish central bank said.
"Alongside that, the continued good situation in the labour markets and lower inflation, which was conducive to growth in real wages, supported higher economic activity growth," it reported.
Inflation driven by electricity, natural gas, heating costs
The report also said that consumer price growth in Poland from February to June 2024 "was running at a level consistent with the NBP inflation target (2.5% with a symmetric band for deviations of ±1 percentage point), and then picked up to 4.9% in September 2024 (compared to 2.6% in June 2024)."
It added that "the rise in inflation was mainly due to the partial unfreezing of electricity, natural gas and heating prices, and – albeit to a much lesser extent – an increase in the annual growth in the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages."
(gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, nbp.pl