A Digest of Political, Economic, Cultural and Historical News from Poland

Published: May 30, 2017

 

Higher income, lower expenditure and considerably lower budget deficit.

 

As confirmed by the Government’s Information Center (CIR), the Council of Ministers adopted a resolution approving the executive report regarding the fulfilment of 2016 budget. The Council has adopted a resolution regarding the 2016 budget as well as a resolution to close the budget’s accounts for year 2016.

The 2016 budget’s income came up to 314,683.570 PLN and exceeded the anticipated income by 875,044 PLN that is by 3 percent. This increase was achieved primarily through higher revenues from the excise duty, higher income taxes, as well as a higher earnings contribution from the National Bank of Poland.

The budget spending in 2016 reached 360,843.115 PLN (including 750,333 PLN of spending moved from December 2016 to 2017) and it lower than planned by 7,705.333 PLN, which is 2.1 percent.

According to CIR, the lower spending resulted from an incomplete allocation of specific provisions, means for subsidies and grants, and current expenditures.

The deficit reached 46,159.544 PLN. It was 15 percent lower, equal to 8,580.456 PLN, in comparison to a cut-off level of 54,740.000.

An average quarterly increase of the GDP in 2016 reached 0.7 percent. The GDP’s dynamics was variable over the year. The results from 2016’s fourth quarter indicated a noticeable improvement of the dynamics of economic activity towards the end of the year.

Throughout 2016, the GDP increased by 2.7 percent, which is lower than the forecast for the 2016 budget. The national demand remained the primary reason for the increase, although its dynamics was lower than a year before, due to the decrease in investments. The net export contribution to the increase of GDP was slightly positive (0.3 percentage point). The GDP came to 1,851.2 billion PLN and was higher than in 2015 by 2.9 percent.

“Improvement in the employment market, low dynamics of consumption prices, and the implementation of “Family 500 plus” program, combined with positive consumer climate, reflected the higher dynamics of private consumption,” the statement reads. The pace in which private consumption increased in 2016 reached 3.8 percent in comparison to 3 percent in 2015, and the 2016 budget forecast of 3.7 percent. This increase in private consumption has been the best since 2008.

At the end of 2016, the number of registered unemployed was lower by 228 thousand in comparison to 2015, an equivalent of 14.6 percent. The unemployment rate at the end of 2016 was 8.3 percent and was lover by 1.4 percent when compared to the results of 2015. It was also lower than estimated in the 2016 Budget Act, which predicted it to be at 9.7 percent.

Throughout most of 2016, goods and service prices remained lower than a year before. The yearly deflation concluded in November, and on average, the consumption prices in 2016 were 0.6 percent lower when compared to 2015. They were also significantly than their estimation, which was predicted to be 1.7 percent. The consumer pricing was mainly a reflection of a worldwide situation within the energy and agricultural markets.

As reported by CIR, in 2016, the total nominal surplus in goods and service trade reached the record high of 3.7 percent in relation to the GDP. As a result, the total deficit of current turnover of balance of payments decreased to 0.3 percent of GDP, as opposed to 0.6 percent it reached a year before. This result has been the best since mid-90s. The data exceeded the forecast of the 2016 budget, which was minus 1.5 percent of GDP.

 

Source: wpolityce.pl
Translation: JD
Photo: PAP/Obara/wPolityce.pl