Warsaw, Mar 23 (IANS): The aid Warsaw gave to Ukraine last year equalled 1 per cent of Poland's GDP, the country's Finance Minister Magdalena Rzeczkowska said.

Poland has opened its borders to millions of Ukrainians since the Russia-Ukraine war and introduced a number of aid schemes, Xinhua news agency reported.

Rzeczkowska told broadcaster Radio Zet on Wednesday that "the cost of aiding Ukraine is about 1 per cent of GDP, which is about 30 billion zloty ($6.9 billion)".

The aid came out of Poland's central budget, local government budgets and the military's budget, she said.

According to a preliminary estimate released by Statistics Poland in January, the country's real GDP increased by 4.9 per cent year-on-year in 2022.

The Minister has also said that around 780,000 Ukrainian citizens are working in Poland and a number of them have established businesses in the country, "so in a way they are also contributing to the growth of the economy."