The Central Statistical Office (GUS) prepared a comprehensive study analyzing what was changing in the Polish economy in a pandemic against the backdrop of the world economy. It turns out that the Polish authorities reacted to the crisis with budget expenses or various transfers and guarantees below the global average. Compared to GDP, the state may have allocated more to stimulate the economy than China and Russia, but much less than developed countries.

On average in the world, 9 percent of GDP was allocated for additional state expenditure, of which 1.2 percent of GDP was also allocated to the health service. For comparison, in Poland, these expenses accounted for 7.8 percent of GDP, of which 0.4 percent of GDP went to the health service. A slower increase in health care spending in a pandemic (0.1 percent of GDP) can be seen in the list of selected countries only in China. The United States topped in spending directly from the budget. The equivalent of as much as 25.5 percent of GDP was direct state aid along with lost revenues. As much as 3.3 percent of GDP was the new spending that went to the health service there.

The worse news is the decline in investment in Poland at the level of 10 percent last year, which was not accompanied by a comparable decline in GDP. This is completely different than in other EU countries. This is due both to the effectiveness of Polish exports and to social transfers that supported consumption. But without investment, there will be no further growth in the economy.

(Business Insider)