2023-05-03 15:12:00
The first EU member to feel the lull, Luxembourg has the lowest inflation rate of the 27. After climbing 10.3% in July 2022, the price of the Grand Ducal basket only jumped “ than” by 2.9% last March. Unheard of for two years!
Other countries to be part of the European states least affected by inflation: Spain, the Netherlands and… Belgium. Unlike its French (6.7%) and German (7.8%) neighbors, whose rate is still above 5%, Brussels fell below this threshold (4.9%) last March, according to Eurostat. A first since September 2021.
Consumption down 6% in one year: these products that Belgians buy less because of inflation
Like Spain, which imposed 0% VAT on basic necessities, the countries that are most resistant to soaring prices owe it in part to the introduction of accompanying measures place by their government. Example in Belgium where the passage of VAT to 6% for energy, the creation of bonuses for electricity and gas or the extension of the social tariff have helped to fight once morest the rise in the cost of living.
In a European Union where the fall in prices remains a little less rapid than in the euro zone, it is clear that the crisis is hitting the countries close to the Ukrainian conflict the hardest. During the month of March, the rise in prices thus reached 16.5% in the Czech Republic, 17.2% in Latvia and even 25.6% in Hungary.
Rising prices in supermarkets: these new habits of Belgian consumers
“This situation is explained by the dependence of eastern countries on Russian energy and Ukrainian food products”, assures Florence Jany-Catrice, professor of economics at the University of Lille, at the microphone of the Arte channel. .
Boosted by the food, alcohol and tobacco sectors whose price of items soared by up to 15.3% in the EU in March 2023, continental inflation still remains very problematic. And for good reason, the indicator rose once more in April (from 6.9% to 7%) in the euro zone, interrupting a series of five consecutive monthly declines.
Inflation is expected to reach 5.3% in 2023, according to the Planning Bureau
“Even if inflation has generally fallen (since October) and will continue to fall, there is no respite yet,” summarizes Carsten Brzeski, economist for ING bank. In other words, the continuation of the decline, which is announced over the next few months, might prove to be very slow. And this, for the vast majority of European states.
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