Ahead of a parliamentary election, Poland’s conservative leader Jarosław Kaczyński announced at the end of last week that the Polish minimum monthly wage would grow to PLN 3,000 (USD 762) at the end of 2020 and then rise further to PLN 4,000 (USD 1,016) three years later.
The planned series of minimum wage hikes will have “a minimal impact on inflation ... 0.1 percentage points next year and something similar the following year,” Adam Glapiński, head of the National Bank of Poland (NBP), told a news conference on Wednesday.
Glapiński was talking to reporters after the Polish central bank's rate-setting Monetary Policy Council left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday.
“Privately as an economist I always thought that, if it is possible and realistic, we need to hike the minimum wage as quickly as possible,” Glapiński added.
The minimum wage in Poland rose to PLN 2,250 (EUR 525, USD 600) at the start of this year, from PLN 2,100 in 2018.
Meanwhile, the minimum hourly rate in Poland is currently set at PLN 14.70 (EUR 3.40, USD 3.80), up from PLN 13.70 a year earlier.
The planned series of minimum wage hikes is part of a package of spending pledges by Poland’s ruling conservatives ahead of next month’s elections.
After four years in power, the governing conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party is bidding for a second term following a landslide win in 2015.
Poles will vote in parliamentary elections on October 13.
(jh/gs)
Source: IAR