Ministry of Development: 3.6 percent GDP growth attainable in the entire 2016

According to the Ministry of Development represented by Deputy Minister Jerzy Kwieciński, Polish economy will speed up in the second half of the year, and the main driver of growth will be public investment. According to his assessment, 3.6 percent GDP growth in the entire 2016 is attainable.

„I think real 3.6 percent is certainly achievable. You will see how the economy expands in the second half of the year” – he said, referring to the prognoses of the Ministry of Development.

„Investment: just at this point we see that they are launched. The main stimulus at the beginning will certainly be public investment, it will pull up the growth in the second half of the year. But private investment will start as well” – he explained.

Kwieciński emhasized that Polish export is expanding very well. In his opinion, it is important to boost export towards the destinations where Poland is not present, especially Asian and African markets. “So far, they constitute a relatively small portion, but we assume they will have a big growth rate” – he noted.

On Wednesday, the Deputy Minister said that the economy is already reviving. “We have the first symptoms of recovery connected with the start of the new financial perspective and effects of our plan for increasing effectiveness and accelerating the use of EU funds within the 2014-2020 partnership agreement” – he noted.

He indicated that the so-called designation process has come to an end – only one voivodship is waiting for a confirmation of conditions ensuring proper completion of operational programmes, the process of meeting preliminary conditions is also ending. “Here we had a very big boost in the first half of the year” – indicated the Deputy chief of the Ministry of Development.

„In June and July we already have visible effects of speeding up EU funds contracting. And (…) what at this moment determines economic revival and translation into GDP are the agreements that are being signed. We also count the bag will open up further, as we have an amended act on public procurement, and earlier we advised to hold up public tenders due to lack of harmonization of the Polish procurement law” – Kwieciński emphasized.

According to him, this year the annual impact of EU funds on GDP may be 0.5 percentage point.

„Next year, it will be significantly more. I think next year this will be above 1 percentage point for the entire year. But we have to give these funds a boost” – he noted.

According to the Deputy Minister, EU funds themselves do not generate growth, but constitute a catalyst for other actions regarding both local governments and the private sector.

He also said that the Ministry of Development was surprised by the information that national programmes, including Operational Programme Infrastructure and Environment, are completed quicker than regional.

He also added that in September the ministry will commence talks with EC regarding submission of the amendments suggested in the Morawiecki plan regarding new cohesion policy and new EU budget perspective.

On Friday, Central Statistical Office announced Polish Real Gross Domestic Product increased in 2Q2016 by 3.1 percent. The data were worse than economists expected.