Inflation at 10 percent in Q3, says expert

Decrease of inflation to 16.6 percent in December is mainly due to the effect of lower heating costs, Jakub Rybacki from the Polish Economic Institute (PIE) said.

As announced on Friday by the Central Statistical Office (GUS), inflation in December 2022 amounted to 16.6 percent year-on-year. A month earlier, it stood at 17.5 percent.

According to Rybacki, by the end of Q3 2023 "inflation will fall below 10 percent".

He pointed out that not only lower heating costs were the reason for lower inflation. "The growth rate of food prices is also declining," Rybacki said.

"However, inflation is still very widespread - the increase in prices excluding food and energy costs has increased to 11.6 percent." he said and added that the prices of clothing, health and recreational services were growing at a faster rate.

In the expert's opinion, January will bring a further increase in inflation - "probably it will exceed 19 percent. This will be the result of an increase in VAT rates for energy and fuels. The prices of transport services will also increase," he noted.

According to Rybacki, Poland should also expect an increase in rents, prices of utilities and recreational services. "Inflation will start to weaken from March onwards," the expert predicted.