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Poland may avoid recession amid virus crisis: deputy PM

11.05.2020 07:45
Despite being hit by the coronavirus, Poland may avoid falling into a recession this year, and its economy should rebound strongly next year, a deputy prime minister has said.
Polands Deputy Prime Minister and Development Minister Jadwiga Emilewicz.
Poland's Deputy Prime Minister and Development Minister Jadwiga Emilewicz.Photo: PAP/Radek Pietruszka

"There are strong grounds for me to expect that we will … end this year somewhere around zero" in terms of GDP growth, Jadwiga Emilewicz said on Saturday.

Speaking to radio broadcaster RMF FM, she added: "We started out from a good base, including a very low level of debt and a very low level of unemployment, with a large buffer.”

She elaborated that about 1 million Ukrainian workers left Poland at the start of the pandemic, “creating about a million job openings."

According to the European Commission, Poland will cope with the fallout of the coronavirus crisis better than any other economy in the European Union.

In its spring economic forecast, the EU executive said last week it expected Poland's GDP to shrink by 4.3 percent this year, but then expand by 4.1 percent next year.

The Polish government estimated last month that the country’s GDP could shrink by 3.4 percent this year amid the coronavirus pandemic.

(gs/pk)

Source: PAP