World Bank - Poland to see ‘solid’ growth this year and next

The World Bank has issued a report which forecasts 4 percent GDP growth this year in Poland and stable growth for the next two years.

The report, released on Tuesday, also forecasts 4.2 percent growth in Poland in 2012, one of the most impressive performances in the EU.

On average, the World Bank predicts growth in the 10 ex-communist EU nations at 3.8 percent this year, with Romania showing the strongest growth next year at 4.4 percent.

“The pace of the recovery in the EU10 is set to accelerate in 2011 and 2012," says the report.

“The performance of Slovakia and Poland is set to remain solid thanks to low pre-crisis imbalances, deep integration into European production networks, EU funds, and, in the case of Poland, solid consumption,” the World Bank says.

Things are beginning to look brighter in Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, which have suffered through the finance crisis as their small domestic markets mean that growth must be driven by exports.

Growth in Hungary and Slovenia is likely to be more modest at 2.2 and 3.0 percent this year respectively. The Czech Republic, however, could actually see growth slowing down. (pg)