Manufacturing costs boost inflation in recent quarters says lobby

Poland's high inflation in recent quarters has been fuelled by rising manufacturing costs owing to growing prices of oil and gas as well as government decisions, the Polish Chamber of Commerce (KIG) has said.

Core inflation, which excludes the prices of food and energy, reached 6.9 percent year on year in March, the National Bank of Poland (NBP) reported on Tuesday. March's consumer price index (CPI) reached 11.0 percent, up from 8.5 percent in February, the country's statistical office had said earlier.

Piotr Soroczyński, KIG's chief economist, said food and energy were the main drivers of added inflation in March.

Soroczyński said the NBP's rate-setting body, the Monetary Policy Council, should intervene to bring down core inflation as it has stayed for a long time above the NBP's official inflation target of 2.5 percent plus/minus one percentage point.

"From the global perspective, (the NBP - PAP) stressed mainly the situation on the oil and gas markets, and recently also on the food market," Soroczyński said.

"In Poland, manufacturing costs have for a long time been increased by administrative decisions, including the prices of water, waste management, labour, pandemic adaptations, new taxes, higher existing taxes and increased formal requirements for businesses," Soroczynski went on to say.

Additionally, increased demand is beginning to have a bigger impact on inflation, according to the expert.