Poland's priority is not adopting euro, but raising living standards: PM

WARSAW, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki argued Tuesday that maintaining the national currency was better for Poles than introducing the common EU currency.

"Our main purpose is not that Poland adopts the Euro, on the contrary, we think that our (national currency) zloty is better for the well-being of Poles. Our priority is that Poles start to earn as much as Western Europeans do," Morawiecki told state Polish Radio on Tuesday.

The prime minister was responding to the main opposition force's promise that it would move towards introducing the euro, were it to win general elections this fall.

Morawiecki quoted statistics showing that Poland still has some of the cheapest prices in the EU for a number of basic food, household and clothing items, while Lithuania, a neighbouring country which adopted the euro in 2015, has higher prices than the EU average for the same goods.

In preparation for parliamentary elections this year, governing Law and Justice party committed to a series of social protection measures: expanding its signature child-support programme 500+ (monthly payments of 131 U.S. dollars per child) to single-child households, a thirteenth pension and tax breaks for youth.