Blog by Michael Clay

Retail Sales Likely to Grow Record High Ahead of VAT Hikes

Polish retail sales in December may be 13.1 percent higher year on year, which would be the best monthly result since mid-2008, the daily Rzeczpospolita writes citing stats office GUS' and Invest-Bank's forecasts.

The high spending is mainly the result of consumers' haste in purchases ahead of the VAT hikes expected next year, Invest-Bank economist Jakub Borowski told the daily.

Can such increases in spending just be attributed to the proposed increase in the VAT rate - after all it will be a 1% increase - hardly a real hike in final retail pricing.

Perhaps this is just an increase in the business which naturally takes place every December due to the Christmas spending spree and the fact that Poles are generally better off now than ever before.