Poland’s inflation drops to lowest level in 5 years, says minister
Poland’s inflation in March dropped to its lowest observed level in five years and for the second month in a row, the prices of food have dropped, the finance minister said on Thursday.
Referring to the latest data published by the Central Statistical Office (GUS), Andrzej Domanski said: "In March the inflation index was at 1.9 percent and was slightly lower than the analysts estimated.
"We have at this moment the lowest inflation in five years, and what might even be more important to me, for the second month in a row the prices of food have been dropping, if looking at it from month to month."
The Central Statistical Office published on Friday the draft estimate of the inflation level in March.
According to the data, the prices of consumption products and services (CPI) have increased on an annual basis by 1.9 percent, and in comparison to the last month, by 0.2 percent.
Domanski added that the government has been conducting a stable budget policy on the revenue, hence the decision to come back to the 5 percent VAT tax on food starting in April.
He said: "As the Ministry of Finance, as the government, we must conduct a stable, responsible policy on the budget revenue, thus the decision on VAT.
"However, I am absolutely sure that this decision will have a very, very moderate impact on the shop prices." PAP)
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