Poland’s economic growth rate in the first three months of 2022 may surge to 7 percent year on year, Piotr Nowak, the development and technology minister, has said.

Nowak was commenting on the latest industrial output data for January, which, according to Poland’s Central Statistical Office, increased by 19.2 percent year on year, and fell by 3.0 percent from the previous month, beating market expectations.

“The growth of production in January significantly exceeded analysts’ expectations, while employment in the corporate sector is now above pre-pandemic levels,” Nowak wrote.

“Such a favourable result in January indicates that the annual GDP growth rate in the first quarter may be close to 7 percent year on year,” Nowak added.

In its budget law, the government has assumed that the country’s economy will grow at a rate of 4.6 percent in 2022.