Strong sales boost GDP growth

According to GUS acting president Janusz Witkowski, Q3 this year was not worse than Q2 when the GDP growth amounted to 5.5%. Bogdan Wyżnikiewicz from the Gdańsk Institute for Market Economics agrees with and is forecasting growth of 5.6%. "If our forecasts are correct it will be a sixth subsequent quarter with the increase of the GDP growth," said Wyżnikiewicz. The increase in sales came mostly from cars (30.2%), furniture and white goods (25.2%), fuels (17.2%) and food, beverages and tobacco (13.1%). This growth is directly related to improvements in the labor market where unemployment dropped from 15.5% to 15.2% in September. According to Jacek Wiśniewski, the chief economist with Raiffeisen Bank, strong consumption does not have a negative impact on prices. Therefore, the economists do not expect any rise in interest rates in the near future. "Interest rates probably will not grow until the end of the year," said Wiśniewski. (Puls Biznesu, p. 9)  E.B.