Warsaw climbs Mercer's Cost of Living survey

Warsaw is the 35th most expensive city to live in, according to the latest figures published by Mercer. Poland’s capital city has outrun 32 cities during the last year in terms of cost of living.

Moscow is for the third time the world’s most expensive city. London ranked 3rd. The prices in Warsaw are still much lower than in London and Moscow: a luxurious apartment in Warsaw can be rented for PLN 5,000 and a cup of coffee costs PLN 8. Petrol prices are nearing London prices: a litre of standard-grade gasoline is over PLN 4.
The weakening of the US dollar coupled with the strengthening of the euro and other currencies including the Polish zloty has caused significant changes in this year's ranking pushing Warsaw towards the top, TVN CNBC reports.

Polish Market

ECONOMIC MONITOR

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• ● In December 2009 and January 2010, as in previous months in the second half of 2009, the Polish economy stood out against other countries in terms of GDP growth. Poland’s economic growth was higher than projected and higher than in other European countries.
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• In 2009 construction output increased by 3.7%.
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• Retail sales increase in most product groups.
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• On the Warsaw Stock Exchange, stock prices were very volatile in January 2010.
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• At the end of December 2009 the registered unemployment rate (claimant count rate) amounted to 11.9% versus 11.4% in November.
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• At the end of January the president signed the 2010 budget bill into law. The bill was adopted by the parliament on December 18.
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• In the fourth quarter of 2009 the Polish economy turned out to be more resistant to the global crisis than had been projected and than the economies of Polish neighbours, something which boosts optimism in forecasts for 2010 and the next years.
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WEEKLY MARKET ANALYSIS

Retail sales up again in June
Retail sales growth in nominal terms accelerated in June to 6.4% y-o-y from 4.3% y-o-y in May. The increase was higher than expected. In real terms, retail sales growth accelerated to 4.5% y-o-y from 2.0% y-o-y. June was a consecutive month with retail sales figures stronger than expected, which indicates that consumption is recovering after it slowed significantly at the beginning of the year. Private consumption is driven by an improvement on the labour market coupled with a rise in disposable incomes. In Q2 2010 retail sales grew by around 3% y-o-y in nominal terms and around 1% y-o-y in real terms. On the basis of retail sales and industrial production data, it can be estimated that the GDP growth rate was close to 3%.

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