— We are not working on introducing a windfall tax. We see that oil prices have dropped since yesterday. We will take actions appropriate to the situation, said Minister Domański in London. Windfall tax is a tax on excess profits.
When asked about the potential impact of the war in the Middle East on the condition of the Polish economy, Domański noted that it was still too early to make forecasts.
– We are monitoring the situation. We see how variable it is. We cannot afford to underestimate its potential and importance in any way, but at the same time we still have to wait a while to make hard calculations, he pointed out.
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The minister pointed out that the World Bank lowered global GDP growth forecasts by 0.3-0.5%. compared to the previous 4 percent At the same time, last week, after the outbreak of the war in Iran, Moody's increased the economic growth forecast for Poland to 3.7%.
— We can expect slightly higher inflation and slightly lower GDP growth. It's hard to say how big an impact this will actually be […] We had a very cold winter in the first quarter. This had an impact on construction and assembly production in the first two months, we saw the data for January, he said.
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Andrzej Domański did not want to comment on whether the government, in the face of high oil and fuel prices, can take action regarding changes in VAT or excise duty. — A temporary reduction in the VAT rate is the most likely to be used. We will still talk about it, we haven't decided whether we will do it, he said.
He emphasized that “our priority must be to prevent fuel shortages at stations.” – We hope that this conflict will end as soon as possible and there will be no need to take such action – added the minister.
