The government of Poland has revised its growth forecast downward for the 2009 year, but it still expects the economy to grow throughout the year. The finance ministry has updated its estimated growth rate to 3.8 percent for the year, which is still much faster than the European Union as a whole.
“In 2009, Poland’s GDP growth will not be lower than 3 percent,” said deputy finance minister Katarzyna Zajdel-Kurowska, adding that the ministry is ready to amend the budget law in 2009 if government revenue should shrink. “Still, the government may first try to impose discipline on public finances through appropriate measures,” Zajdel-Kurowska said.
While many in the west are looking at a long-term slowdown, the Polish economy should not feel the same effects, according the Zajdel-Kurowska. One reason for that is the fact that Poland does depend on loans nearly as much as other industrialized nations, so the tightened credit markets will have less of an effect. The latest estimates for the EU as a whole have it growing by a scant 0.2 percent in 2009, with Latvia and Estonia being the hardest hit. The fastest growing economies are said to be Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria, with Poland in fourth.
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