Republic of Poland - Selected Issues (Electronic book text)

1. Poland's rapid growth had begun to lose steam even before the global crisis hit. Following a robust and relatively well-balanced expansion, driven by an EU accession-related investment boom and rapid credit and wage growth, economic activity began to slow in the face of gradually emerging capacity constraints. By mid-2008, inflationary pressures peaked and the unemployment rate was at record lows. Still, despite a somewhat pro-cyclical fiscal policy, external and internal imbalances were relatively limited going into the crisis.