Poland in first recession since communist era

Poland is experiencing its first recession since the end of the communist era more than 3 decades ago, an estimate by Poland’s statistics office showed on Friday, August 14.

The economy shrank by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter because of the effects of the coronavirus lockdown, after a contraction of 0.4% in the 1st quarter.

Recession is defined two consecutive quarters of contraction.

Poland was the only European Union member state to avoid recession during the global financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, and has enjoyed healthy growth rates until now.

Gross domestic product grew by 4.1% in 2019, slightly lower than the 5.3% rate in 2018.

The economy “should recover” in the next quarters, the Polish Economic Institute, an independent research center, was quoted by PAP news agency as saying.

The government is forecasting 3.4% contraction this year, down from a previous prognosis of 3.7% growth.

The European Commission forecast in May that the Polish economy would shrink by 4.3% overall in 2020 and bounce back with 4.1% expansion in 2021. – Rappler.com