Current account deficit for 2000 at $10 million; 6.2% GDP; exports up 7%
Current account deficit reached only approximately $10 million in 2000,
roughly 6.2% of GDP, down from 7.5% in 1999, according to an announcement
from the National Bank of Poland yesterday. Decembers deficit of $734
million was also slightly lower than experts predicted, resulting largely
from a 7% increase in exports from 1999, whereas domestic demand, weakened
by tight monetary policy, allowed imports to rise by only 2%. According to
Grzegorz Wojtowicz of the Monetary Policy Council, expectations for further
C/A deficit decreases, even to 5% of GDP by the end of this year, are
reasonable. Other experts are more pessimistic, stressing the danger of an
American recession, which would seriously affect the EU and thus the market
for Polish exports. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B1, Gazeta Wyborcza, p.21) M.K.
