Today’s news round up in Poland

Start your day with a summary of today’s top stories from Poland’s leading news sites.

Wyborcza.pl – The Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper looked at why in the Czech Republic, a very secular state, having children is more valued than in Poland despite the Catholic Church having a strong influence over Polish society. According to a survey cited by the newspaper, 48 percent of Czechs believe that having children is a duty to society while only 22 percent of Poles think the same. Czech women appear more ready to drop out of the workforce to raise young children with only 20 percent of them continuing their work, compared to 60 percent of Poles. Poland also has one of the lowest birth rates in Europe with 331,000 children being born on 2021, 24,000 fewer than in 2000.

TVPInfo.pl - Public broadcaster TVP reported that agents of Poland’s Central Anti-Corruption Bureau had arrested a Warsaw notary for allegedly running an "invoice factory" at which hundreds of false documents were given the official stamp of approval. The documents, concerning around 150 companies, were allegedly used to defraud the tax authorities. The accused faces 14 charges of fraud, in a case that stretches back to 2012.

Rp.pl – The Rzeczpospolita newspaper warned of a coming "massacre of small firms." The paper reported that companies that were already struggling due to the pandemic are now being hit hard by inflation and soaring energy prices and so will struggle to stay afloat. The paper quoted a representative of small company who said that recently some 200,000 firms have either closed or suspended operations. The continuing financial pressure, experts warn, could also push more firms into the grey economy.

TVN24.pl – Inflation in October will come in at over 18 percent and will exceed 20 percent next year, Pawel Wojciechowski, a former finance minister, told the broadcaster TVN24 in an interview. The ex-minister called inflation "the silent killer in our pockets" and said that there were no signs on the horizon of it decreasing. He also described the response of the government and that of the rate-setting Monetary Policy Council to the inflation crisis as "dovish."