Poland has recorded highest price increase in 20 years
20:46
Prices in Poland are rising at an alarming rate – 5.1 percent is the latest result provided by Eurostat. This is more than our national statistical office shows. According to data from the Central Statistical Office of Poland (GUS), the price increase in April was still below 5 percent, or more precisely 4.3 percent.
Eurostat calculates inflation according to a different inflation basket than the GUS so that the baskets of goods are comparable between EU countries. And this shows that it is unfortunately not like the president of the National Bank of Poland, Adam Glapiński, says. Inflation in Poland is not only high on paper and is not mainly caused by the increases in prices for garbage collection, resulting from, inter alia, the ecological requirements of the European Union.
Detailed data show that the final result is boosted by increases at gas stations. More by 4 percent we pay for energy, food is going up 1.2 percent. Alcohol and cigarettes went up 1.6 percent. We also pay much more for services – an increase by as much as 8.5 percent.
We are not record-holders in the Eurostat ranking. Higher prices are in Hungary, where prices are rising at a rate of 5.2 percent. Luxembourg was also on the podium with a score of 3.3 percent. However, this is a poor consolation, because in all other countries inflation does not exceed 3 percent, and in Greece and Portugal, prices are falling. The average for the entire European Union is 2 percent.
And this is not the end of the price increase in Poland. Economists' forecasts indicate that, according to the GUS, inflation may even reach 5 percent in May, and it will not fall at all in the following months. Throughout 2021, the price increase may exceed 4 percent.
