Growth Cycles in Poland

The author presents a revised and up-to-date version of composite leading indicators (CLI) for the Polish economy, elaborated according to the OECD methodology. They are projected against the reference index GCI, describing cyclical fluctuations of the aggregate economic activity during the period of 1975-97. First part of the papar examines the chronology and the amplitudę of growth cycles observed in the development of the economy and its major sectors. The second part presents three altemative versions of CLI for the Polish economy. All are well correlated with the reference cycle (i.e. with the cyclical component of the reference index), but the leads are rather short and not very stable. Nonetheless, the barometer as proposed may be useful in monitoring cyclical developments in the economy. It also offers a possibility to generate extrapolative (autoregressive) forecasts one year ahead