Unexpected growth in first-quarter exports narrows current account deficit

The National Bank of Poland (NBP) has announced that the current account gap amounted to $367 million May, versus $850 million in April. Analysts had expected a deficit gap of between $700 and $850 million. Earlier this year, investors were alarmed by the current account gap, as it reached 8.3% of GDP in March, up from 7.4% in 1999 and 4.4% in 1998. The currency crisis in Poland was taken into consideration when calculating the gap. The reason for the gap reduction is that exports are up markedly. For the past few months, analysts have been predicting exports would improve, but NBP's trade data, based on capital flows, showed a persistent weakness. However, recently Central Statistical Office (GUS) data showed that indeed a recovery might be on its way. NBP says the current account deficit fell to about 7.8% of GDP in May, down from 8.1% in April. (Reuters) A.D.