“What we see is that people have more left over in their wallets,” says Arjan Vliegenthart, director of Nibud. The organization calculated for 117 types of households whether they will improve or deteriorate this year. In most cases, the calculation results in a plus, varying from 0.5 percent to over 8 percent. In some situations there is a minus of 0.2 percent.
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That’s how it’s calculated
In its calculations, Nibud has assumed an inflation rate of 3.5 percent in 2023. The higher premium for health insurance has also been taken into account.
On the windfall side, all relevant tax measures from 2022 and the current year are included. Furthermore, Nibud assumes that people who work in paid employment will receive 4.6 percent more wages.
The pluses are mainly due to the energy ceiling and other measures taken by the cabinet, such as lowering the tax for workers and raising the minimum wage. Nibud also expects higher wages to be agreed in the collective labor agreements.
Slightly less extreme price increases
In addition, prices will probably not rise as fast as last year this year. Then inflation was 10 percent. The Central Planning Bureau (CPB) expects inflation to be 3.5 percent this year.
Whether that will come true is, of course, still highly uncertain. In December inflation was still 9.6 percent. Nibud is therefore cautious. “We hope that inflation has passed its peak. That life has become more expensive and will not become much more expensive, but we will have to wait and see,” said the Nibud director. “That also has to do with what is happening in the world.”
Private situation also plays a role
As it stands now, 2023 will be a year of ‘recovering and recovering’, the information organization expects. And of course all kinds of things can happen in your private situation that have (major) financial consequences. “If you are promoted, you will improve faster than we calculated”, Vliegenthart explains.
“But if you lose your job, or get divorced, the loss of purchasing power is much greater than any picture we can make,” he warns.
