According to Wednesday’s edition of La Libre Belgique, the outlook for 2023 is however more optimistic since the BNB expects real wages to rise by 3%, with indexation acting with a delay for quite a few categories of workers.
“The automatic increase in wages protects the purchasing power of households, but for more than one in three workers (37.6%), this indexation only occurs once a year”, we read in the daily, citing the study by the National Bank.
The energy price shock affects (at least temporarily) the purchasing power of households, which is however better protected than in other countries, comments the BNB.
Households are “faced with great uncertainties”, which materialize “by a drop in the consumer confidence index below its historical average level”, still notes the Bank. This is also reflected in “consumption which is temporarily curbed by the slow decline in purchasing power (which is however better protected than in other countries) but supported by the drop in the savings rate and the indexation mechanism salaries and social allowances (which compensates but with delay)”, we still read in La Libre.