06:25 AM EDT, 05/22/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The Polish zloty lost some ground against the US dollar in early European trade on Wednesday despite the release of better-than-expected industrial production growth.

USD/PLN was 3.9270 in European morning trade on Wednesday.

Statistics Poland reported Wednesday that industrial production in April grew by 7.9% compared with a year earlier. The expectation was for 5.9%. Poland saw the average paid employment in the enterprise sector was 0.4% lower compared with April 2023.

The reading was slightly better than market expectations. ING Bank Slaski economist Adam Antoniak, as quoted by Reuters, said that the production data has been characterized by "very high variability" in the past two months, "mainly due to statistical and calendar effects."

"When we look at both months together, it looks like there is a continued slow but actual recovery in industry," Antoniak added.

Last week, Poland released preliminary data on gross domestic product, which showed 0.4% growth compared with the previous quarter and a 1.9% increase from a year earlier.