The inflation of 9.8%, the level it is estimated to have reached in March, the highest level since May 1985, affects numerous variables. In addition to reducing the purchasing power of salaries waves pensionsalso has effects on the saving or the rentals and for this reason the Government has decided to put a cap on the rise in rents until June 30.
Although the European Central Central Bank (ECB) began by assuring that the rise in the general level of prices was due to a temporary phenomenon linked to the increase in the cost of energy, now he admits that it has been transferred to the economy as a whole and may slow down the recovery. In fact, the annual rate of core inflation, which excludes the most volatile elements such as energy or unprocessed food, has shot up to 3.4%, the highest level since 2008. All this fuels claims of recovery of purchasing power by the unions and brings interest rate hikes closer, as the US Federal Reserve has already done.
Inflation erodes the purchasing power of salaries. The collective agreements signed until February leave a balance of an average increase in wages of 2.26%, far removed from the annual rate of inflation. Salaries face 2022 with collective bargaining partially blocked by this inflationary spiral and by the lack of understanding at the highest level between the CEOE, CCOO and UGT, which have been pending for a year to address a new ‘agreement of agreements’ to guide to collective bargaining. In addition, an income pact is on the table through which the unions should accept limitations on wage increases and employers, on margins and benefits.
As it happens with salaries, also the saving loses value with rising inflation. The remuneration of the accounts and deposits is practically nil, since the price of money remains at 0%. The 100 euros from when the year began are worth 9.8% less today and they will hardly find a remuneration that compensates or exceeds it. The only way is to take greater risks in the stock market. Currently, the money that is in bank accounts and deposits experiences a return (so to speak) of 0.01% when it has a term of up to one year; 0.27% between one year and up to two and 0.04% in terms of more than two years, according to data from the Bank of Spain referring to January. In public fixed income, the 12-month Treasury bills show a negative return of 0.572% and the 5-year bonds, positive, of 0.581%. The Ibex, the main indicator of the Spanish stock market, offered 7.9% last year, but as it goes up, it goes down.
The pensions It is another income that is affected by inflation. Pensioners benefit from a small payment to compensate for the deviation from the estimated inflation that served to update them in 2021, 0.9%. In any case, they will not recover everything that prices have risen, but the reference is the average inflation from December 2020 to November 2021, located around 2.5%, as foreseen by the partial reform agreed by the social people . In 2022, the benefits must be revalued from this level. Taking into account the evolution that the consumer price index (CPI) is having, it is foreseeable that in 2022, the beneficiaries will also have to receive a compensatory payment (or without a diminutive) if prices skyrocket as is happening in the current year.
Another income that is affected by the CPI is rentals. And that’s good news for landlords, but bad news for renters. That is why the Government has decided that until June 30, small owners and tenants negotiate the update and, in the event that there is no agreement, that it be 2%, which is equivalent to the competitiveness guarantee index. That means that, with an agreement, the increase may exceed that bar, as long as it is agreed and the owner is a small owner. In the case of large owners, the increase may not exceed 2% in any case until June 30. As a consequence of the limitation, the savings in an apartment with a rent of 600 euros will be around 46 euros per month: with this latest data from the CPI (waiting for it to be confirmed in mid-April) your share would have risen by 58 .8 euros, but with the Government’s measure it will be 12 euros. A large owner is understood to be that natural or legal person who is the owner of more than 10 urban properties or a constructed area of more than 1,500 square meters for residential use, excluding garages and storage rooms.