Poland GDP contracts 2.8% in 2020

Poland’s gross domestic product shrank to 2.8 percent in 2020, compared to a 4.5 percent expansion in 2019, the Central Statistical Office (GUS) said in an estimate on Friday. It was the first annual economic contraction since 1996, as the pandemic crisis hampered domestic demand by 3.7 percent, while investment shrank by 8.4 percent last year, the Warsaw-based statistics agency said. On the production side, output decreased for industry (minus 0.2 percent), construction (minus 3.7 percent), and trade, repair of motor vehicles (minus 4 percent). Data from November showed the economy shrank 1.5 percent in the third quarter of 2020, easing from an 8.4 percent contraction in the previous three-month period. 

(GUS)