In brief

• CPI inflation in October was 3.5% year on year, compared with 4.1% in September.
• Minister of Finance and Economy Andrzej Domański believes the decline in the indicator is the effect of lower fuel prices after the launch of the CPN package.
• The CPN package began operating on 3 October, together with the entry into force of part of the provisions of the windfall profits tax act.
• Lower fuel prices translate into lower operating costs for fleets of carriers and freight forwarders.

Decline in inflation in October

Statistics Poland (GUS), in its flash estimate, reported that prices of consumer goods and services in October were 3.5% higher than a year earlier (Domański: inflacja w październiku spadła dzięki pakietowi CPN obniżającemu ceny paliw – dlahandlu.pl) (Domański: inflacja w październiku spadła dzięki pakietowi CPN obniżającemu ceny paliw – wnp.pl) (Spadek inflacji w październiku. Minister finansów wskazuje przyczynę – money.pl). A month earlier, annual inflation stood at 4.1%..

Role of the CPN package

Minister of Finance and Economy Andrzej Domański, in a Friday post on the platform X, stated that the lower inflation was due to the decrease in fuel prices after the launch of the CPN package. As evidence, he pointed to the drop in the annual indicator by 0.6 percentage points compared with September, to 3.5%. (Niemcy: Media: po zatrzymaniu byłego szefa wywiadu służby USA zapowiedziały weryfikację współpracy – wnp.pl). This is the minister's assessment, not an established effect of the package. GUS data show only the scale of the decline in the indicator, without indicating its causes.

The CPN package began operating on 3 October, when part of the provisions of the windfall profits tax act entered into force. It is meant to affect fuel prices at petrol stations. Fuel prices translate into transport and logistics costs, and thus into the situation of carriers and freight forwarders.

What it means for the transport industry

Cheaper fuel reduces fleet operating costs, which may affect the rates that carriers calculate in their offers to clients. However, GUS data cover only one month, and the durability of this effect will be shown only by subsequent readings of the indicator.

Read also

• Inflacja w październiku spadła do 3,5 proc. Paliwa potaniały o 9,7 proc. w ciągu miesiąca