Mateusz Morawiecki made the announcement at a news conference in Warsaw, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The government’s “anti-inflation shield” has included scrapping value-added tax (VAT) on food, cutting the tax on fuel to 8 percent and reducing the VAT on gas and heat, among other measures.
Morawiecki said he was “pleased that inflation didn’t soar in July,” but added it was “too early” to declare success in containing price increases.
Morawiecki said that inflation would likely remain elevated in 2023, but with a downward trend.
He added: “A lot depends on global factors, such as the price of an oil barrel, the price of gas, which is exorbitantly high, and the price of energy, which is sky high on European markets.”
Mortgage holidays
Morawiecki urged mortgage borrowers to apply for “mortgage holidays,” available from Friday.
Under this measure, a type of grace period, those with mortgage loans in the Polish currency, taken to meet their own housing needs, can apply for the postponement of four mortgage instalments in 2022 and a further four in 2023, at no additional cost.
The prime minister said that amid the rising cost of living, the mortgage holidays offer Poles, “a little more peace and a little more confidence in the future.”
Morawiecki told reporters that “more than 2 million Polish families” were eligible for this measure, which was set to cost between PLN 10 billion (EUR 2.1 million) and PLN 20 billion (EUR 4.2 billion).
He said the government "had a duty” to offer the grace period to mortgage borrowers.
Inflation in Poland stood at 15.5 percent in year-on-year terms in July, the country’s Central Statistical Office (GUS) said in a flash estimate on Friday.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, bankier.pl