Households will lose significantly in their wallets this year

The drop can be even further up to 100 euros for two-income couples with several children. And households that do not see their wages increase, even have to take into account a decrease in purchasing power that can amount to more than 200 euros per month.

“We see that large groups of households have tens of euros less to spend every month,” Nibud director Arjan Vliegenthart summarizes in a statement the many purchasing power figures studied. Such sharp declines in purchasing power as this year have not occurred in recent years, according to Nibud.

The biggest culprit is high inflation, researchers at the institute have found. This has risen sharply due to the high energy prices. Nibud was already gloomy about purchasing power forecasts in September. But at that time it was not yet possible to predict that gas and electricity in particular would increase in price as strongly as has happened in recent months.

The reduced tax on energy by the government partly compensates for the higher energy bill. And households with a low income can also receive an extra allowance from the municipality for energy costs. However, according to the researchers, this is not enough to absorb the entire decline in purchasing power.

Nibud has calculated with an inflation of 3 percent, as De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) foresees for this year. If inflation rises even further, people will have even less left in their wallets, the institute warns.

Vliegenthart is especially concerned about “the more than 2 million households that are already budgeting themselves stupidly to get all the bills paid”. For example, people on social assistance benefits and people with high rents seem to be structurally stuck. This decrease in purchasing power is probably also severe for older people with only state pension and a small pension.

But many more Dutch people will have to pay close attention. “Many get a pay slip this week where the net salary is higher than what they received last year, and yet the money flies out of the wallet faster,” explains Vliegenthart. “The higher salary disappears after a few times of shopping due to the higher prices in the supermarket.”

Nibud cannot yet say what the plans from the recent coalition agreement mean for the wallet. Those calculations are still being worked on.

Free unlimited access to Showbytes? Which can!

Log in or create an account and never miss a thing from the stars.

Yes, I want free unlimited access