In its Tuesday edition, the Norwegian daily Finansavisen observed that Poland, once trailing at the bottom of the EU league, has within a few years emerged as a leader of the European economy. Yet this success, the paper predicts, could spell difficulties for countries that only recently were the main destinations for Polish emigrants.
Among Poland’s greatest strengths, the newspaper highlighted a robust currency, high returns on investment, and steadily rising consumer spending. Despite the tense geopolitical climate, Poland is currently the fastest-growing economy in the region.
According to the paper, Poland’s GDP is forecast to expand by 3.3 per cent and 3.2 per cent over the next two years, compared with average EU growth projections of 1.4 per cent in 2026 and 1.7 per cent the following year.
Commentators noted that Poland’s uninterrupted economic expansion over the past eight years is striking, with output rising by 93 per cent during that period, compared with 58 per cent in the United Kingdom. This, they suggested, may encourage many Poles to return home from countries they once left for better job opportunities.
“Poland’s progress is a confirmation of the EU’s free movement of goods, services, capital and people. The country has enjoyed continuous growth for eight years, and its economy has grown by 93 per cent since 2017, a full 58 percentage points more than the United Kingdom,” the newspaper writes.
“An important turning point has been the return of Polish workers from the UK and other countries after Brexit. The number of Poles living abroad has fallen from 2.54 million in 2017 to 1.5 million in 2023. Many of those who have returned home are now better educated and have higher incomes than when they left.”
Such a shift could pose challenges not only for Britain, which has seen more than a million Poles depart since Brexit, but also for Norway, where Polish workers form a vital part of the labour market, particularly in construction, Finansavisen underlined.
Source: PAP
Photo: @Go2Warsaw
Tomasz Modrzejewski
