Inflation across Poland grew to 9.2 percent in the year to January 2022, reaching its highest level for 22 years.
Data published by Statistics Poland (GUS) revealed the rise in the cost of living, topping 9 percent for the first time since November 2000.
“We can see the first effects of the anti-inflation shield which slowed inflation down, despite the forecasts of some experts,” government spokesman Piotr Muller commented.
“As a reminder, the shield’s main solutions were enacted in February and the current data only concerns January. We are hoping that it will bring about further results and that the inflation peak will be lower than expected,” he added.
Prior to the publishing of official data, ING BSK bank economist Adam Antoniak had outright stated that price growth in January had “clearly surpassed 10 percent but had not come close to 11 percent.”
He noted, however, that January was difficult to forecast, mainly due to the fact that GUS conducted changes to the weight it applied to different factors it used to calculate inflation. As a result, the January reading will be carried out according to the previous weights and the final reading will be known in March, when the institution will calculate everything in accordance with the new rules.
“Moreover, one must remember that throughout all of last year inflation had turned out to be higher than estimated and that is why I think it has crossed into the double digits, despite some data suggesting otherwise,” Antoniak explained.
He believes that the main factor behind the uncertainty is the price of food which has surged in January. “The growth in the prices of energy carriers due to the changes in regulated prices can be more precisely estimated. We also know that the prices of fuel went down,” he stated.
In the economist’s opinion, the reading will be a record high in terms of inflation but expects it to fall shortly afterwards. The inflation rate’s mileage in the upcoming months will depend on how long government anti-inflation shields are maintained.
