After the publication of a series of weaker-than-expected macroeconomic data, Poland's ministry of finance has upheld its forecast of this year's GDP growth of 3.3% (vs. last year's 1.6%), according to minister of finance Mateusz Szczurek.
He admitted that it will be hard to replicate Q1 GDP growth (which reached 3.4% y/) in Q2 of 2014.
In June, retail sales' growth decelerated to 1.2% y/y (vs. market consensus of 4.5%), reaching the weakest pace in over a year. Industrial output grew by 1.7% y/y (vs. expected 3.5% growth), also at the weakest pace in a year.
Still, Szczurek pointed to continuously falling unemployment and rising wages as positive developments in the Polish economy.
For 2015, the government expects growth to pick up further to 3.8%.
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