Morawiecki: private investment should rebound by Q3, 2017

Poland’s Finance and Development Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, indicated that he expects investment to pick up later in 2017, in line with GDP and exports, according to a report in the Polish press on Friday. He added that the disappointing growth figures during recent months were caused by economic slowdowns in countries neighboring Poland, as well as the dependency on investments from structural funds, from which benefits can have a delayed effect. He said that benefits from these EU-funded investments could be seen as early as Q2, 2017. “No later than in the third quarter of next year will we see a possible rebound in private investment, correlated with the public,” Morawiecki maintained while speaking at a press conference. “Today we have to deal with this point in the cycle, having less investment and lower GDP. The second reason is the economic slowdown around us, in Germany, Slovakia, Czechia and Romania. We are an open economy, so when exports are hindered, [so are] the growth figures,” he added. The decline in gross fixed capital formation was, in the third quarter, 7.7 percent (compared to a 5 percent decline in the second quarter and a 2.2 percent loss in the first quarter). It has been estimated that these losses had a negative impact on GDP of 1.4 percent by Q3 (y/y).