Economic Indicators

Poles feel the pinch as inflation hits peak

2023.03.15 10:45


© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: People walk in front of the Polish Central Bank (NBP) building in Warsaw, Poland, September 8, 2022. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

GDANSK, Poland (Reuters) – Polish consumers say they are struggling to pay household bills and buy basic groceries as price rises have reached their steepest in more than a quarter of a century.

Inflation in Poland was 18.4% year on year in February, according to statistics office data released on Wednesday, the highest in 26 years, although economists have predicted it will mark the peak of the current cycle.

“Prices are quite high especially for food recently,” said Patryk, 29, a product support specialist, who was heading to work in the northern city of Gdansk. “For example for tomatoes right now you have to pay about 20 zlotys ($4.49) per kilo. The normal price was about 12… This is not something I remember in my life.”

A tight labour market means that emerging Europe’s largest economy has continued to post double-digit wage growth, although pay has not kept up with inflation.

“Let’s say I am quite lucky as I managed to get a pay rise… it balances out a little bit, but as I said you have to think about what you are buying and if you really need it right now,” Patryk, who only gave his first name, said.

Across Europe prices have surged, in some cases to multi-decade highs, driven by the impact of the Ukraine war on energy markets, as well as supply chain disruption linked to the pandemic.

In Poland, prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages rose 24.0% year on year in February, while prices for housing, water, electricity and gas gained 22.7%.

Student Kinga, who also only gave her first name, said it was difficult to afford the bills.

“For example, electricity and if we want to warm our houses with gas, it’s really a huge difference, it’s really hard to pay,” she said.

Maciej, a teacher and football coach, who was pushing a baby in a pram, said inflation made it harder to support his young family.

“I have two kids and when I must buy milk, Pampers or something like that, it’s expensive,” he said.

($1 = 4.4541 zlotys)

Source link

Related Articles

Back to top button
bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 97,683.17 1.23%
ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) $ 3,403.91 2.59%
tether
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00 0.08%
solana
Solana (SOL) $ 254.78 0.49%
bnb
BNB (BNB) $ 654.60 3.95%
xrp
XRP (XRP) $ 1.48 0.62%
dogecoin
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.433219 4.57%
usd-coin
USDC (USDC) $ 0.999623 0.09%
cardano
Cardano (ADA) $ 1.08 5.35%
staked-ether
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 3,400.53 2.57%
tron
TRON (TRX) $ 0.212227 3.75%
avalanche-2
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 41.66 0.88%
the-open-network
Toncoin (TON) $ 6.43 19.09%
shiba-inu
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000026 2.83%
stellar
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.502476 44.56%
wrapped-steth
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 4,038.83 3.41%
wrapped-bitcoin
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 97,537.13 1.04%
polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) $ 8.59 32.67%
chainlink
Chainlink (LINK) $ 17.55 10.10%
bitcoin-cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 506.22 3.64%
weth
WETH (WETH) $ 3,406.88 2.69%
sui
Sui (SUI) $ 3.45 0.98%
pepe
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.000021 1.31%
leo-token
LEO Token (LEO) $ 8.63 2.51%
near
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 6.19 4.45%
litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) $ 98.85 8.36%
aptos
Aptos (APT) $ 12.75 4.06%
uniswap
Uniswap (UNI) $ 10.70 12.76%
wrapped-eeth
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 3,585.27 2.65%
hedera-hashgraph
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.153781 1.87%
crypto-com-chain
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.201333 5.03%
internet-computer
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 11.43 5.42%
usds
USDS (USDS) $ 0.998702 0.52%
polygon-ecosystem-token
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.567538 17.27%
ethereum-classic
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 29.64 4.79%
render-token
Render (RENDER) $ 7.70 4.24%
bittensor
Bittensor (TAO) $ 530.66 6.29%
kaspa
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.152742 0.70%
ethena-usde
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00 0.12%
fetch-ai
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) $ 1.43 13.82%
bonk
Bonk (BONK) $ 0.000048 2.13%
whitebit
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 24.73 0.22%
arbitrum
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.859232 8.23%
dai
Dai (DAI) $ 0.999201 0.16%
vechain
VeChain (VET) $ 0.04187 19.07%
mantra-dao
MANTRA (OM) $ 3.68 5.50%
filecoin
Filecoin (FIL) $ 5.48 14.29%
dogwifcoin
dogwifhat (WIF) $ 3.29 3.78%
cosmos
Cosmos Hub (ATOM) $ 8.23 11.31%
blockstack
Stacks (STX) $ 2.06 5.06%