WARSAW: The Polish economy is set to grow 3.8 percent this year and next, and 3.4 percent in 2018, according to a new report on inflation and GDP growth by the central bank (NBP).
Jacek Kotłowski from the NBP’s Economic Institute told the IAR news agency: “The main driver of growth is consumption. [Poland has] a very good labour market and rising wages, especially in real terms.”
He said another factor encouraging growth is the “500+” programme recently introduced by Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party to ease the burdens of child-rearing by giving all families with two or more children a handout of PLN 500 (USD 130, EUR 117) a month per child.
Kotłowski added: “The Polish economy is not being powered by just one driver. We also have a big rise in investments and a pretty good situation in terms of exports.” Central bank economists have said they expect prices to fall 0.4 percent this year. Next year, annual inflation is expected to be 1.3 percent, and 1.7 percent in 2018.
