Poland with EU’s highest inflation, more than triple eurozone average

Poland recorded the European Union’s highest annual inflation in March, with of 4.4%. That was more than double the EU-wide average of 1.7%, and more than triple the eurozone’s figure of 1.3%.

Poland has topped Eurostat’s inflation ranking in every month since March last year with the exception of April, July and August, when it was second.

In the latest March data, Hungary was just behind Poland, on 3.9%. There was then a large gap to Romania and Luxembourg, each on 2.5%. At the other end of the scale, 10 countries recorded inflation rates lower than 1% and Greece faced deflation of 2%.

Rising prices of a number of basic staples have contributed to Poland’s high inflation, including rice (7.4% more expensive year-on-year vs 1.5% across the EU), flour (5.3% vs 1.8%), fresh milk (3.8% vs 1.1%) and frozen vegetables (5.9% vs 1.8%).

However, the price of pork has dropped in Poland at a faster rate than the EU average (by 11.1% vs 2.8%). This has also been the case for poultry (2.1% decline vs 0.4% rise) and oil (2.1% fall vs 0.5% increase).

Meanwhile, non-alcoholic drinks have become 7.4% more expensive in Poland compared with last year, while only 1.3% pricier on average in the EU. An additional charge was added to the cost of sugary and alcoholic drinks from the start of the year in Poland in an effort to promote healthier consumer choices.

A number of services have also become more expensive in Poland than in the EU, including dental services (12.6% vs 0.4%), hospitals (6.8% vs 1.8%), vets (6.4% vs 1.8%), parking (12.5% vs 0.3%) and public transport (7.7% more expensive vs 1.4% average drop in the EU).

According to ASM Sales Force Agency, another reason for the price hike in 2020 has been an increase in shopping online, where a reference basket of goods was 7.5% more expensive than in a stationary shop in March, reports Onet.

Other notable hikes included the price of sewage disposal, which went up by 32.6% (vs 5.4% across the EU), electricity (up 9.4% vs 4%) and liquid fuels (18.6% vs 5%).

Telecoms services became 8% more expensive in Poland, while becoming 0.1% cheaper across the EU, and bank fees were raised by 47.6% against a 13% EU average.

According to Poland’s own official statistics body, GUS, the country’s inflation hit 3.2% in March, which was 0.3 percentage points above market expectations.

GUS uses the Consumer Price Index (CPI) methodology, while Eurostat uses the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP). These differ in the reference baskets of consumer goods and services that they use to track inflation.

Main image credit: PEPCO/Wikimedia Commons (under CC BY-SA 4.0)

Maria Wilczek

Maria Wilczek is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She is a regular writer for The Times, The Economist and Al Jazeera English, and has also featured in Foreign Policy, Politico Europe, The Spectator and Gazeta Wyborcza.