Poland's annual economic growth slowed to its weakest level in three years in the third quarter, data showed on Tuesday, with economists saying a fall in investment was most likely responsible for the slump. Gross domestic product expanded by 2.5 percent year-on-year compared to a 3.1 percent rise in the second quarter, a flash estimate from the statistics office showed.
In quarter-on-quarter terms, growth slowed to 0.2 percent from a revised 0.8 percent in the April-June period. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected annual growth of 2.9 percent and a quarterly figure of 0.9 percent. "The data is surprisingly weak," said Bank Millennium economist Urszula Krynska, linking this to low investment caused by a fall in the level of aid funds from the European Union.
In the second quarter, Poland suffered its biggest contraction in investment for almost four years as political uncertainty discouraged firms from spending at a time of reduced EU aid. The statistics office is scheduled to release a breakdown of third-quarter growth on November 30. Economists also said the slowdown in annual growth was to some extent due to an upward revision of last year's growth announced by the statistics office in October.