Poland registered the largest annual and quarterly GDP growth in the European Union in Q2, according to the latest Eurostat figures.

The Polish economy grew 4% in annual terms, surpassing Cyprus with 3.7% growth and Spain with 2.9%.

Whereas five countries experienced economic declines: Estonia (-1.7%), Ireland (-1.4%), Finland (-0.7%), Latvia (-0.4%), and Germany, the EU's largest economy, at -0.1%. 

Overall, the EU's economy grew by 0.8%.

On a quarterly basis, Poland's GDP increased by 1.5%, while the EU as a whole saw a growth of 0.3%, according to the Eurostat figures published this week.

These figures, which are seasonally adjusted, cover 22 of the EU's 27 member states.

Meanwhile, Poland’s state statistical office, GUS, reported that in unadjusted terms, Poland’s GDP grew by 3.2% annually in the second quarter, exceeding the 2.7% forecast by analysts and up from the 2% growth recorded in the first quarter.

This positive news was met with approval by Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

“Everyone surprised by the growth of the Polish economy in the second quarter of this year. We are better than all the big EU countries, and we beat the Germans by a long shot,” he wrote on X.

Germany is Poland’s largest trading partner, accounting for 27.9% of Polish exports and 19.8% of imports in 2023, according to the Polish Economic Institute (PIE) as reported by news service WPN.

However, PKO Bank analysts were more cautious, stating that “quarterly data for Poland is highly volatile and frequently revised, making it not fully comparable with data for other EU countries and [meaning it] should be approached with caution.

“This does not change the fact that the scale of the post-pandemic recovery in Poland is one of the highest in the entire EU,” they added.

According to the bank, from the last quarter of 2019, before the pandemic began, through to the second quarter of 2024, Poland achieved the fourth highest GDP growth in the EU at 12.5%. Only Malta (18.8%), Croatia (17.4%), and Cyprus (15.6%) experienced greater growth.