Poles feel the pinch as inflation hits peak

GDANSK, Poland (Reuters) – Polish consumers say they are struggling to pay household bills and buy basic groceries as price rises have reached their steepest in more than a quarter of a century.

波兰格但斯克（路透社）——波兰消费者表示，由于物价上涨已达到 25 多年以来的最高水平，他们正在努力支付家庭账单和购买基本杂货。

Inflation in Poland was 18.4% year on year in February, according to statistics office data released on Wednesday, the highest in 26 years, although economists have predicted it will mark the peak of the current cycle.

根据周三公布的统计局数据，波兰 2 月份的通货膨胀率为 18.4%，为 26 年来的最高水平，尽管经济学家预测这将标志着当前周期的顶峰。

“Prices are quite high especially for food recently,” said Patryk, 29, a product support specialist, who was heading to work in the northern city of Gdansk. “For example for tomatoes right now you have to pay about 20 zlotys ($4.49) per kilo. The normal price was about 12… This is not something I remember in my life.”

“最近的价格相当高，尤其是食品，”29 岁的产品支持专家帕特里克说，他正前往北部城市格但斯克工作。 “例如，现在你必须为每公斤支付大约 20 兹罗提（4.49 美元）的西红柿。正常价格是 12 左右……我这辈子都不记得了。”

A tight labour market means that emerging Europes largest economy has continued to post double-digit wage growth, although pay has not kept up with inflation.

紧张的劳动力市场意味着欧洲最大的新兴经济体继续实现两位数的工资增长，尽管工资没有跟上通货膨胀的步伐。

“Lets say I am quite lucky as I managed to get a pay rise… it balances out a little bit, but as I said you have to think about what you are buying and if you really need it right now,” Patryk, who only gave his first name, said.

“可以说我很幸运，因为我设法获得了加薪......它平衡了一点，但正如我所说，你必须考虑你正在购买的东西以及你现在是否真的需要它，”帕特里克，他只给了他的名字，说。

Across Europe prices have surged, in some cases to multi-decade highs, driven by the impact of the Ukraine war on energy markets, as well as supply chain disruption linked to the pandemic.

在乌克兰战争对能源市场的影响以及与大流行相关的供应链中断的推动下，整个欧洲的价格飙升，在某些情况下飙升至数十年高位。

In Poland, prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages rose 24.0% year on year in February, while prices for housing, water, electricity and gas gained 22.7%.

在波兰，2 月份食品和非酒精饮料价格同比上涨 24.0%，而住房、水、电和天然气价格上涨 22.7%。

Student Kinga, who also only gave her first name, said it was difficult to afford the bills.

同样只透露了自己名字的学生 kinga 说，她很难负担这些账单。

“For example, electricity and if we want to warm our houses with gas, it‘s really a huge difference, it’s really hard to pay,” she said.

“例如，电，如果我们想用煤气取暖，那真的是天差地别，真的很难付钱，”她说。

Maciej, a teacher and football coach, who was pushing a baby in a pram, said inflation made it harder to support his young family.

maciej 是一名教师兼足球教练，他推着婴儿车里的婴儿说，通货膨胀让他更难养家糊口。

“I have two kids and when I must buy milk, Pampers or something like that, its expensive,” he said.

“我有两个孩子，当我必须买牛奶、帮宝适或类似的东西时，它很贵，”他说。

($1 = 4.4541 zlotys)

($1 = 4.4541 兹罗提)

(Reporting by Thomas Holdstock, Hedy Beloucif, Francesca Halliwell, writing by Alan Charlish; editing by Barbara Lewis)

（thomas holdstock、hedy beloucif、francesca halliwell 报道，alan charlish 撰写；barbara lewis 编辑）