Jaroslaw Kaczynski at the local store, Tuesday; photo - PAP/Radek PietruszkaJaroslaw Kaczynski went to a local grocery shop and bought potatoes, flour, chicken, apples and sugar. The shopping cost 55.60 zloty (14 euro).
“When I was PM the same products cost 24 zloty [6 euro],” said Kaczynski.
The opposition leader chose a small, local shop to prove his point.
“We didn’t go to [a cheap supermarket] where the poorest people do their shopping but to a local shop, where many people do their shopping, especially when they are in a hurry,” said the Law and Justice leader.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski quoted data showing that the average family spends a quarter of its monthly income on food, while the poorest families over 70 percent.
The steep rise in prices of some staples, such as sugar was illustrated by the German Der Tagesspiegel daily this week, which ran a story about how Poles were streaming across the border into Germany to purchase sugar at half the price they can in Poland.
One kilo of sugar produced by a German firm sells for about1.25 euros in Poland, while shoppers in Germany are charged just 0.63 euro.
In Kaczynski’s opinion the government must take responsibility for high prices of grocery products in Poland.
“Donald Tusk’s policy is to be blamed,” said Kaczynski, adding that his party knows how to help Poles affected by increase in prices.
The Law and Justice party wants to introduce a so-called ‘cost-of-living bonus’ for the neediest citizens.
A one-off payment would amount to 600 zloty per child (149 euro) and from 250 to 700 zloty (62 to 174 euro) per pensioner.
Poland’s consumer price index (CPI) covering food and energy prices rose 1.7 percent year-on-year in February, after increasing 1.6 percent in each of the previous two months.
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