Business

Updated · 4 October 2026, 05:48 · 5 stories
Business

Cramped but owned: 31% of Poles live in overcrowded homes

Polish homes are cheap to run but cramped and expensive to buy, according to a comparison of Eurostat data across the European Union.

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Key facts

  • 31% of Poles live in overcrowded housing, against an EU average of about 17%.
  • Poles have 1.2 rooms per person, compared with 1.7 in the EU.
  • 87% of Poles live in a home they own, and 75% have no mortgage, the fourth-highest share in the EU.
  • Only 4.1% of residents spend more than 40% of their income on housing, against 11.2% in Germany and 23.4% in Denmark.
  • Home prices rose by about 88% between Q1 2019 and Q1 2026, the fifth-fastest increase in the EU.

What it means

  • 51% of Poles aged 25–34 still live with their parents, the fourth-highest share in the EU.

Source: Eurostat, Bankier.pl (4 Oct 2026)

Business

Warsaw Stock Exchange switches to a new trading system five times more powerful

On 5 October the Warsaw Stock Exchange moves from the UTP platform to its own GPW WATS trading system.

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Key facts

  • WATS can handle up to 100,000 orders per second, compared with 20,000 on UTP.
  • Order round-trip time falls from 650 to 50 microseconds.
  • UTP, supplied by NYSE Technologies, ran the Warsaw exchange for more than a decade.

What it means for investors

  • All unfilled orders were cancelled after Friday's session and must be placed again in the new system.

Source: PAP Biznes, Bankier.pl (3 Oct 2026)

Business

Poland's rate-setters decide on Wednesday as inflation jumps

On Wednesday 7 October the Monetary Policy Council announces its interest rate decision. The NBP reference rate currently stands at 3.75%.

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Key facts

  • Markets expect rates to stay on hold.
  • With inflation up to 4.0%, some investors now see a possible rate hike before the end of the year.
  • The post-meeting statement may signal a shift in the Council's stance ahead of November's inflation projection.

Calendar

  • Wednesday 7 Oct: MPC decision.
  • Thursday 8 Oct, 15:00 CET: press conference by NBP Governor Adam Glapiński.

Source: Bankier.pl (2 Oct 2026)

Business

Polish pensions could rise by 3.48% in March 2027

That is the indexation rate in the government's assumptions. The final increase will only be known once inflation and wage data for 2026 are in.

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Key facts

  • The minimum pension would rise from 1,978.49 zł to about 2,047.34 zł gross.
  • A pension of 3,000 zł gross would go up by 104.40 zł.
  • The government assumed the share of real wage growth in the indexation will be at the legal minimum of 20%.

What's next

  • This is a simulation. The final rate depends on 2026 inflation and wage growth, and it will apply to benefits from 1 March 2027.

Source: Government assumptions, gp24.pl (2 Oct 2026)

Business

Inflation hits 4.0%, the fastest price growth in 15 months

Prices in September were 4.0% higher than a year earlier, according to the flash estimate from Statistics Poland (GUS). Fuel accounts for roughly half of the increase.

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Key facts

  • Fuel prices rose 36.1% year on year after government fuel price support ended.
  • Inflation was 3.4% in August. In September alone, prices rose 0.7% from the previous month.
  • Food is 0.5% cheaper than a year ago.

What's next

  • mBank economists expect inflation could approach 5% in January 2027.
  • Economists say the Monetary Policy Council will likely wait it out, pushing interest rate cuts further away.

Source: Statistics Poland (30 Sep 2026), mBank, ING