HealthMin Sees Covid Spike Ahead; Local Govt Revenues Hurt by Tax Deduction Proposal

LOCAL NEWS

• HealthMin says Poland will see over 17k covid cases today, with big increases to continue for some time. Expects 3-4 weeks for the wave to start receding
  • Poland expects to have 10-20m million vaccine doses at its disposal in Q2 which would, according to "optimistic" scenarios, increase the vaccination capacity to over 1.5 mln people weekly,
  • but relies on Govt launching large-scale vaccination centres -which may be unrealistic.
  • Vaccinations schedule for beyond Q1 to be announced after March 15
• Local Govt revenues could see substantial declines if Govt increases the tax deduction to PLN 30k as suggested by recent media leaks.
  • Poland would shoulder PLN 60-70 bln cost of the proposal if the increase encompassed all taxpayers and PLN 25-30 bln if it concerned taxpayers with annual income of up to PLN 30k, economists estimate.
  • In the first scenario the shortfall for local governments would stand at PLN 30-35 bln and in the second at PLN 12.5-15 bln