Poland’s high inflation in recent quarters has been fuelled by rising manufacturing costs owing to growing prices of oil and gas as well as government decisions, the Polish Chamber of Commerce (KIG) has said.
Core inflation, which excludes the prices of food and energy, reached 6.9% YoY in March, the National Bank of Poland (NBP) reported on April 19. March’s consumer price index (CPI) reached 11%, up from 8.5% in February, the country’s statistical office had said earlier.
Piotr Soroczynski, KIG’s chief economist, said food and energy were the main drivers of added inflation in March.
Soroczynski said the NBP’s rate-setting body, the Monetary Policy Council, should intervene to bring down core inflation, as it had stayed for a long time above the NBP’s official inflation target of 2.5% plus/minus 1%.
“From the global perspective, the NBP stressed mainly the situation on the oil and gas markets, and recently also on the food market,” Soroczynski said.
“In Poland, manufacturing costs have for a long time been increased by administrative decisions, including the prices of water, waste management, labour, pandemic adaptations, new taxes, higher existing taxes and increased formal requirements for businesses,” Soroczynski went on to say.
Additionally, increased demand is beginning to have a bigger impact on inflation, according to the expert. (The First News/Business World Magazine)
