The government is working on the possibility of maintaining conservation measures in the field of energy prices, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said. At the same time, he did not rule out restoring the VAT rate to food at the level of 5%.
“We sit with the Minister of Finance and with other ministers on such activities, which may not be to the extent that at this most critical moment – but which will allow us to prolong the use of various protective measures for consumers. Today I do not want to mislead anyone – because the works are in progress – so I do not formulate precisely the scale or the terms of this protection. But we have it on the agenda of our daily work,” Tusk said during a press conference.
He said it seems that the situation when it comes to food prices is “surprisingly optimistic”, which is related to the overall situation in the food markets.
“We can certainly talk about it today – it’s more than our intuition – that inflation should definitely fall in March, it should stabilize at a relatively low level. “I am not ruling out – but we still need time to think until the end of the week – that we will leave the issue of VAT on food at this level, which was before this inflation break and we will observe what happens next. My recommendation is this – but the Minister of Finance will still count exactly – that we will be able to return to 5% of the food rate and return to zero at any time if there are reasons for such a solution. But please do not make a final announcement from it yet,” the Prime Minister added.
In December 2023, the President signed the Act amending the Act to support consumers of electricity, gas and heat. The aim of the Act is to limit, in the period from 1 January 2024 to 30 June 2024, the impact of increases in electricity, gas and heat prices on the most sensitive customers of these products, including household customers, local government units, public utility entities.
Zero VAT on food has been in effect since February 2022. The current regulations assume that it is maintained at this level by the end of March 2024.
Source: ISBnews
