The reading was encouraging but lower than forecast by analysts, who had expected an increase of 4.5 percent, Poland’s PAP news agency reported.
In month-on-month terms, Polish industrial production in February was 4.3 percent higher than in January, according to the Central Statistical Office.
The latest batch of economic data came after the state-run statistics agency reported on Wednesday that employment in Polish companies dropped by 1.7 percent in February on average in year-on-year terms as the economy struggles to recover from a coronavirus slump.
According to the European Union’s Eurostat statistics agency, which uses a different methodology, industrial production in Poland rose by 5.6 percent in January, the third-fastest rate in the 27-nation bloc.
Poland's Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Gowin said earlier this month that the government had spent tens of billions to save more than 6.9 million jobs since the coronavirus crisis hit the country a year ago.
Support for businesses throughout the country has exceeded PLN 200 billion (EUR 44 billion, USD 52 billion) during the last 12 months, he added.
The Polish economy contracted by 2.8 percent in 2020 amid the coronavirus crisis, according to an estimate released by the Central Statistical Office (GUS) at the end of January.
(gs/pk)
Source: PAP