Over 80 percent of Poles have clearly felt the effects of rising prices and 63.2 percent believe that their situation is worse than a year ago, according to a survey by the Financial Enterprises Association in Poland (ZPF) and the Institute of Economic Development at the Warsaw School of Economics (IRG SGH).
“This is the highest reading in the history of our survey, which has been conducted since 2006,” commented Sławomir Dudek, an economist from IRG SGH and co-author of the study.
In the survey, Poles were asked about how their quality of life has changed in the last 12 months, with 63.2 percent of respondents saying that it had gotten worse and every fourth respondent stating that the quality of their life had not changed. Around 12 percent felt that it had improved.
Around 75 percent of Poles pointed to inflation as a key factor affecting their quality of life, much more frequently than other factors such as the war in Ukraine, politics and changes in income.
“Our survey clearly confirmed that inflation is public enemy number one. This factor will continue to shape the attitudes of households in Poland for a long time. The majority of Poles (71.1 percent) do not believe that the government can deal with high inflation,” added Dudek.
Although the ZPF and IRG SGH study shows that Poles recognize a slowdown in inflation, Sławomir Dudek warns against excessive optimism.
“The word ‘disinflation,’ which some have noted as a success in their comments, does not indicate that prices will fall. Even if inflation slows to around 9 percent by year-end, it will still significantly affect people’s finances and could have negative consequences for the economy and households,” the expert concluded.
