One in seven Belgians dips into their savings to make ends meet
For six out of ten Belgians life has become between 1% and 10% more expensive and almost half of Belgians consciously reduce their daily expenses like food, clothing and leisure activities. That’s according to an international survey conducted on behalf of the Dutch Financial services company ING. Young people, aged 18-24 in particular, struggle to make ends meet and to use their savings to pay for the running costs.
The survey conducted between 15 and 23 March 2022 on 1500 Begian participants further indicates that 36 percent of Belgians save less or are unable to save at all. ‘During the corona crisis, people were actually compulsorily saving, because there was nothing to spend money on. Then we have come out of the crisis and the situation has more or less normalized,’ explains chief economist at ING Peter Vanden Houte. ‘But rising energy prices and the war in Ukraine quickly put an end to that. People now need the money they can normally put aside.’
The significant drop in savings does not only apply to households. About 9 percent of investors also indicate that they have less money to invest and 8 percent have sold investment products.
‘We also notice a slowdown in economic growth, continues Vanden Houte. ‘Normally, consumption always rises. In the worst case there is stagnation, but now we see that consumption causes negative growth. Belgium however remains the only country where wages are directly linked to the index, which normally guarantees purchasing power. But consumers see the prices of their favorite products rise more noticeably than their wages. So we feel we are getting poorer.'
(AS)
Ⓒ Photo Patrick Pleul