Poland has been placed on the sixth position in a ranking of countries whose economies have dealt best with the coronavirus pandemic by the British weekly The Economist. 

The news outlet took several criteria into account such as household income, GDP growth, investment expenditure, the condition of the stock exchange and the state debt.

The weekly emphasised that the major indicator taken into account was the change in GDP since December 2019. Far from being exhaustive, these criteria give an overall idea of what is considered a country’s “economic health”. 

These specific criteria revealed that countries whose economy is not mostly based on tourism, and were therefore not exposed to travel bans as a result of epidemiological restrictions, fared better.

The Economist also took household incomes into consideration in order to analyse how families dealt with the crisis, reflecting wages and government financial aid among others. 

Another measure taken into account by The Economist was investment expenditure, which showed that most businesses view the country’s future with optimism. 

The Economist analysed economic data from 23 countries to create the ranking. Poland’s GDP in the selected period increased by 3,1 per cent. As a comparison, the UK, which experienced a GDP decline of 2.1 per cent in the meantime. 

In Poland, income per capita increased by 3.3 per cent, stock exchange quotations increased by 25.4 percent, investment spending fell by 7.1 per cent and the state debt reached 5 per cent of the GDP. 

Author: Sebastien Meuwissen

Cover photo: Unsplash/British Poles