The President of PKN Orlen, Daniel Obajtek, made sure that in 2023 the base for inflation was very high, said Dr. Małgorzata Starczewska-Krzysztoszek, an economist from the University of Warsaw, in “Wstaysz i Know” on TVN24. – This reference point will mean that statistically inflation at the end of 2023 may be lower, but this is not the task of the head of Orlen – she pointed out. The economist also criticized the Tuesday speech of the president of the Płock concern.
Wholesale fuel prices in PKN Orlen in the first days of the new year dropped sharply. As a result – despite the increase in the VAT rate on motor fuels from 8 to 23 percent. – at the stations we observe the prices of petrol and diesel at the levels from the last weeks.
On Tuesday, in several cities in Poland, conferences of local government officials associated with the Movement Yes For Poland were held, during which declarations were made about submitting applications to the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) to verify whether Orlen abused its dominant position and overstated fuel prices in the last weeks of the year. Local government officials announce that they will intervene with the minister and prime ministerto check whether local governments and entrepreneurs should not receive compensation, e.g. reimbursement of excessive costs incurred for the purchase of fuel, which is the basis for many public services, e.g. public transport, municipal waste management or delivery of supplies to schools and nursing homes.
Małgorzata Starczewska-Krzysztoszek sees no chance for this. – This year’s budget is very tight and there is probably no space in which the government would be willing to spend additional money to support local governments. There is an additional element, namely elections, i.e. money will be needed more for giving away money, in order to encourage people to go to elections and vote in the right way, and not to support local governments, especially since some local governments are not local governments that support what the government proposes and does – said the economist in “Wstasz iwiedz” on TVN24.
“I think someone didn’t prepare the president very wisely.”
Starczewska-Krzysztoszek also commented Tuesday’s speech by the President of PKN Orlen, Daniel Obajtek. – If we had not communicated earlier that we would do everything to maintain prices, we would have panic at Polish petrol stations – said Obajtek, referring to the failure to raise retail prices, despite the increase in VAT on fuels on January 1.
– I think that someone not very wisely prepared the president for this conference, providing him with such arguments. The task of the head of such a huge and strategically important company is not to think about what the queues will look like, whether they will be or not at the gas station – commented the economist.
Starczewska-Krzysztoszek emphasized that the task of the president of PKN Orlen “is to take care of the company’s interests”. – It is a listed company, commercial law, so these interests must be taken care of. (Although) it can be said that Mr. President took care of these interests very strongly, because by keeping prices at a very high level, he led to the fact that Orlen’s financial results in the fourth quarter will be great – she pointed out.
The economist pointed out that already during the first three quarters of 2022, “it is clear that Orlen’s profitability, as well as the cost to income ratio, have improved remarkably.” – Thanks to this, the financial results are very, very good, I am thinking about the net profit – she noted, adding that the State Treasury, which is the main shareholder, also benefits from this.
Małgorzata Starczewska-Krzysztoszek reminded that the State Treasury currently has 49.9 percent. shares in PKN Orlen. Earlier – before the merger with PGNiG – it was 31.14 percent. This means that the share of the State Treasury in dividend will be very large, the economist pointed out.
Impact on inflation
– In fact, President Obajtek also made sure that in 2023 the base for inflation was very high. This reference point will mean that statistically inflation at the end of the year may be lower, and this is not the task of the head of Orlen, summed up Starczewska-Krzysztoszek.
“The change in VAT from 8 percent to 23 percent did not, in principle, translate into fuel prices. It was possible thanks to the sudden drop in wholesale prices at the end of the year,” mBank’s economists said in a Twitter post posted on January 2 this year.
Representatives of this bank also asked themselves “what would happen if wholesale prices behaved typically”. In their opinion, “we would have about 16.9% inflation in November (and not 17.5%) and perhaps about 16% in December.”
Main photo source: PAP/Łukasz Gągulski