Retail sales soar in booming economy

"It is clear that the main driver of the economy is domestic demand," commented Marcin Mróz, chief economist at Fortis Bank. Such a situation is likely to continue as household incomes grow dynamically as a result of booming demand for labor, shrinking unemployment and higher wages. "In such conditions, sales cannot be weak. The GDP growth in the whole year will amount to 6.2-6.3%," said Mróz. However, some experts believe that the rate of economic growth will not be so high. Bohdan Wy¿nikiewicz from the Gdañsk Institute for Market Economics (IBnGR) said that in his opinion the economic growth this year will amount to 6%. "It is still a good result," said Wy¿nikiewicz. "Nevertheless, the growth cannot last forever and the result from Q1 2007 (GDP growth of 7.4%) cannot be repeated now," he added. (Puls Biznesu, p. 6) E.B.