WARSAW, Aug 22 (Reuters) – Investment by Polish medium and large-sized non-financial firms fell by 1.1 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2017, data showed on Tuesday, signalling that a long-awaited rebound in investment might have not materialised in the second quarter.
The statistics office said combined investment of the 17,452 non-financial firms included in the survey, employing at least 50 people, fell to 49.2 billion zlotys ($13.52 billion), with the largest drop in the mining and utilities sectors.
The data does not include investment carried out by the government, state agencies and local governments, responsible for the bulk of infrastructure investment co-financed by EU aid.
Investment in Poland – the largest economy in EU’s eastern wing – declined since the start of last year, partly due to lower inflows of European Union aid.
Critics of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, which came to power in late 2015, had said the fall in investment was partly due to higher policy unpredictability under the right-wing government.
Data published earlier this year showed that in the first quarter of 2017 investment declined by 0.4 percent year on year, following a 7.9 percent drop in 2016.
A breakdown of second-quarter growth, including the contribution of investment, will be published on Aug. 31. ($1 = 3.6379 zlotys) (Reporting by Marcin Goettig, editing by David Evans)