Hausner: I am disappointed with the weakness of economic policy

– I am disappointed, in general, with the weakness of economic policy, which does not respond to many structural problems. Basically, economic policy – this is the responsibility of the Minister of Finance and I am not surprised that he focuses his attention on balancing public finances, which are in a very bad situation – said prof. on TVN24 in the “Fakty po Faktach” program. Jerzy Hausner, chairman of the Open Eyes Economy Summit Program Council and the Council of the Economy and Public Administration Foundation, former deputy prime minister, former minister of economy, labor and social policy.

– But most of the problems that cannot be tackled only by the Minister of Finance, or other ministries, are left aside somewhere – he added. – Therefore, I have the impression that the weakness lies in the fact that these structural challenges, which are difficult to respond to only in the short term, are not addressed. Well, you have to react. This cannot be postponed – emphasized Piotr Kraśka's guest.

– You can't put it off. Guided, whatever one might say, primarily by the next choices, i.e. by the next calculation. Of course, I am aware of the situation and what threatens us if the candidate of the democratic coalition does not win these elections. I'm talking about the presidential election. But on the other hand, we must remember that by pushing away these problems, we deepen them, the professor noted.

Professor Hausner also referred to freezing energy priceswhich she was working on on Tuesday Council of Ministersdue to high energy prices.

– Our energy system is overly dependent on coal, the extraction of which is becoming more and more expensive. Because to extract this coal we have to dig deeper, which means much higher costs, he said. – Therefore, if we want to deal with this problem on our side, energy transformation is the right answer – he added.

However, as the professor pointed out, “a situation in which we wonder what to do when we now have an increase in inflation – what to do to deal with a possible sudden increase in prices, especially for households, and whether we should freeze energy prices for everyone or only for the weakest households – he noted.

– The longer we postpone or slow down the energy transformation, the more we will remain in the trap we find ourselves in – said the guest of “Fakty po Faktach”.

When asked about economic growth for next year, the guest of “Fakty po Faktach” replied that “it is growth financed by debt.” – The other side of the coin is what it looks like public debt and what it looks like budget deficit – said prof. Hausner. – Therefore, this process of financing growth with debt must be stopped because, among other things, it causes an increase in inflation. And this, in turn, reduces the credibility of the state, government and economic policy. So it makes it harder to address these structural challenges, he added.

– Moreover, I would not rely on the opinion of the European Commission that next year our economic growth (projected at 3 percent) GDP – ed.) will be stronger than this year. Because it will not be possible to confirm this until we know the factors behind this increase, Hausner noted.

In his opinion, “continued financing through expenditure that stimulates consumption will lead to an increase in inflation.”

Piotr Kraśka's interlocutor assessed today's government decision regarding the health insurance premium. – If it has been announced, let it finally be done. Because people expect it – said Prof. Hausner about the government's work on reducing health insurance premiums adopted by the Council of Ministers on Tuesday two important acts for entrepreneurs. The first is a self-amendment to the project lowering the health insurance premium for entrepreneurs from 2025. The second is a project lowering the health insurance premium for entrepreneurs from 2026. However, he added that “the health insurance premium is an element of a much broader problem, which is the problem of our social security system, including the capacity financial situation of the pension system” – So if we are looking for ad hoc solutions, we at most improve the situation of one group. But generally reducing the funds needed to solve the problem of the stability of the pension system. And also the stability of health financing in Poland – added the guest of “Fakty po Faktach”.

The professor noted that “it needs to be closed.” – But at the same time, we need to put on the table how the problem of lack of funds for financing in the future is to be solved in the long term pensions and insufficient financing of health care. However, the problem of health care in Poland is not just about money – summed up prof. Hausner.