By the end of last year, the most serious decline in economic indicators was noted on the eastern flank of the European Union.
At the same time, Poland became the “record holder” among them, and by a large margin.
In the fourth quarter of last year, the decline in Polish GDP was 2.4 percent. For example, its closest neighbors the Czech Republic and Hungary, whose economies were also experiencing a recession, fell respectively by only 0.3 and 0.4 percent respectively.
At the same time, as noted in the Polish press, the collapse of the country’s GDP is somewhat “mysterious” in nature. The fact is that a number of other indicators do not confirm the decline in activity in the Polish economy. In particular, the labor market remained stable, and production volumes in industry and the construction industry increased by three percent in the fourth quarter compared to the third.
It is worth noting that such a sharp drop in GDP does not correspond to the situation in other eurozone countries. There, on average, its growth was noted by 0.1 percent.
Despite the obvious problems in the economy, Poland formally managed to avoid a technical recession, that is, a decline in economic indicators for at least two months in a row, since GDP grew by 1 percent in the third quarter of 2022 after a 2.3 percent decline in the 2nd.
If we take the European economy as a whole, then, as many experts predicted, it managed to avoid a recession with great difficulty, while maintaining a small increase in gross domestic product. Most EU countries have nevertheless coped with the problems caused by the sharp rise in energy prices.