Poles catching up Hungarians and Estonians
Poland is fast catching up with other post-communist economies, says the European Commission.
The finance crisis has scampered economic development in the once thriving Baltic states, which has allowed Poland to make significant progress and will soon over take its northern rivals, show some indicators.This year’s GDP per capita in Poland will equal 14,100 euro, reports the EC.
In 2007, Poland’s GDP per capita accounted for only 77.5 percent of that of Estonia’s.
But now the European Commission predicts that in 2009 Estonia’s GDP will plummet 13.7 percent, Hungary’s by 6.5 per cent while Poland’s will grow 1.2 percent.
The gap between Poland and western European states is also decreasing. In 2009, Poles will be 52 per cent as wealthy as German society – an increase of five percent in two years – and 44 per cent as wealthy as the Irish, an increase of eight percent.
If the pace of economical development in Poland remains the same, the country will catch up with Germany in 20 years and with Ireland in just 14 years.