Poland’s rising trade deficit is mainly caused by high prices, a government-sponsored think tank has said.
Poland’s trade deficit hit EUR 14.7 billion after September, the Central Statistical Office (GUS) reported on November 17.
Marek Wasinski, an expert with the Polish Economic Institute (PIE), said in a comment to the GUS data that the growth of deficit would continue throughout the year but at a slower pace.
“After the first three quarters of last year, there was still a EUR 2 billion surplus, but since the end of last year, the growth of imports has been significantly higher than the growth of exports,” Wasinski said, adding that exports increased by 20% but imports surged by as much as 8% YoY.
“Imports posted bigger changes as prices increased by 27% in August, while prices of Polish exports went up by only 21%,” Wasinski argued.
Additionally, import volumes increased by 3.5% YoY between January and August, which could be compared to a 1% increase in the case of exports in the same period, he added. (The First News/Business World Magazine)