Polish economy grows 4.3%

Poland’s economy grew by a brisk 4.3% last year, an acceleration over the already strong 3.9% growth rate of the previous year.

The figures, released today by the state’s Central Statistical Office, underline how strongly the economy has continued to grow in Poland, the largest of the ex-communist countries now in the European Union.

Though Poland’s economy has been unusually resilient, even growing when the rest of the EU fell into recession in 2009, the pace of its growth is expected to slacken this year to around 2.5% due to the new financial troubles in Europe.

Other statistics released today show that the jobless rate in December jumped to 12.5% last month from 12.1% in November.