A new poll shows that 67.7 percent of respondents said they have felt a decline in their living standards due to inflation, according to data published in Polish media outlet Rzeczpospolita.
The polling, conducted by SW Research, asked respondents if they felt a decline in their living standards due to inflation. Only 20.4 percent said “no” while another 11.9 percent had no opinion on this matter.
The decline in living standards is more often noticed by women (71 percent) than men (64 percent). All age groups show similar perception of the decrease in the standard of living (ranging from 66 to 68 percent). In terms of income, almost all income groups point out to the worsening of their situation (66 to 71 percent).
However, 25 percent of persons, both with the lowest income of €212 (1000 Polish zloty) and with the highest, €1,060 euro and more (5,000 zloty), were more likely to say that their living standards had not deteriorated.
Regarding living circumstances, the decline in the standard of living is being signaled most often by the residents of cities between 200,000 to 499,000 inhabitants (76 percent), and least often by rural residents (64 percent) and the largest cities (over 500,000 inhabitants) with 65 percent. Residents of the largest cities also most often respond negatively to this question (25 percent). Sixteen percent of respondents from towns between 20,000 to 99,000 indicate “no” when asked if they saw a decline in their living standards.
Initial estimates of Statistics Poland (GUS) show that in April, consumer goods and services prices increased by 2 percent compared to March. The prices increased by 12.3 percent year-on-year, which is the highest inflation level in Poland since 1997, when the annual inflation was 14.9 percent.
Inflation in Poland remains above the National Bank of Poland’s (NBP) inflation goal (2.5 percent) from November 2019. It dropped slightly below this level only once during this period in December 2002, when it fell to 2.4 percent.
Due to rising inflation, NBP began rapidly increasing interest rates in the past months — currently their main indicator achieved 5.25 percent. According to latest forecasts of the NBP, inflation in Poland will remain at a level above the upper limit of the tolerance band (3.5 percent) in 2022 as well as in 2023.
According to GUS, fuel for private means of transportation went up by 27.8 percent year-on-year, following a 33.5 percent increase in March. Food and non-alcoholic beverage prices increased by 12.7 percent year-on-year, following a 9.2 percent increase in March. Compared to the previous month, the price of goods from this category increased by 4.2 percent — making it the highest increase this century.
