In 2012, the value of Polish exports rose by 4 percent year-on-year and was worth €145.9 billion, the latest data from the National Bank of Poland show. Overall, the total value of Polish exports amounted to 47.5 percent of Poland's GDP.

That is slightly below Germany's export-to-GDP ratio (51.9 percent), but significantly higher than that of other large EU economies, such as the United Kingdom and France (31.9 and 27.5 percent respectively, according to IMF estimates).

Since the start of the economic slowdown in 2008, Poland's exports have risen by 21 percent, an impressive result considering that over 75 percent of Polish exports go to EU markets, which have been hit hard by the crisis.

However, trade with other EU states is slowing down, while the value of exports to other, mostly Eastern European countries is rising – by some 22 percent since last year, though the value was a meager €14 billion.

“The rise in 2012 might not be that significant, but it's a good news for Poland, considering the shape that our trading partners' economies are in,” Tomasz Kaczor, chief economist at Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego told Puls Biznesu.

Though the value of exports has continued to increase, Poland still imports more than it sells abroad. In 2012 the country imported €150 billion worth of goods, mostly from the EU (57 percent, according to GUS data).

Poland's trade balance with other EU countries is positive, yielding surplus of about €21.1 billion. The deficit results from trade with Eastern European countries (Albania, Belarus, Croatia, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine) and developing nations from other regions. Poland's trade deficit with Eastern Europe comes to €18.3 billion and to €10.6 billion with developing countries.

In total, Poland's trade deficit came to €5 billion, 50 percent lower than the €10 billion deficit it recorded in 2011, according to the NBP.

Jacek Ciesnowski