Inflation below expectations in February
In February, CPI inflation in Poland amounted to 0.7 percent year-on-year, Poland’s statistics office GUS said in a data release last week. In month-on-month terms inflation was at 0.1 percent.
The statistics office also revised January data down to 0.5 percent y/y compared to an earlier estimate of 0.7 percent, due to a change of weights in the inflation basket.
Economists surveyed by the Polish Press Agency had expected CPI inflation to come in at 0.9 percent y/y and 0.1 percent m/m in February.
GUS also said that average annual inflation in 2013 was 0.8 percent when calculated using the present inflation basket.
In an e-mailed comment, BZ WBK economists wrote that the February CPI reading was no surprise. “We still see no signs of inflationary pressure. Nevertheless, our estimates still suggest that ... CPI should be slowly climbing upwards in the upcoming months,” they said.
The analysts expect inflation to remain below 1.5 percent for most of 2014 and only approach 2 percent at the end of the year.
