Prime Minister Mark Rutte says he can do little or nothing extra this year to help households that are suffering from ‘historically poor purchasing power figures’. The possibilities are ‘extremely limited, if not absent’, says Rutte.
The Central Planning Bureau (CPB) came today with Numbers about purchasing power, which is falling sharply this year and falling by an average of 6.8 percent. Poverty is also on the rise. The numbers are extremely worrying and the coalition will talk about a purchasing power package in the coming weeks. But the measures that have been decided on will only take effect from 1 January at the earliest, Rutte said.
That warning is not new. Since the spring, the government has warned that it has few resources to do something about the poor purchasing power this year. But the message is even more painful now that the CPB is painting an economic picture that had not been so gloomy since the 1990s. “We do not rule it out completely, but it is true that we are mainly looking at 2023,” says Rutte in his first press conference after the summer period.
poorest households
He emphasizes that the cabinet has already earmarked 7 billion euros, including 1,300 euros in support for the poorest households. But a large part of that group is already in danger of getting into trouble this year. According to the CPB, one in ten children ends up in poverty. These are unique and ‘dramatic figures’, according to the CPB.
Behind those cool figures are harrowing situations, Rutte acknowledges. He understands the concerns of many Dutch people who fear that they will no longer be able to make ends meet. The opposition has accused the cabinet of doing far too little about the money problems that more and more Dutch people are facing. Rutte emphasizes that many of the measures proposed for this autumn would cause problems in implementation.
The cabinet cannot completely remove the pain in 2023, but at the most soften the effects of the high prices, Rutte emphasizes. The coalition parties have already met a few times recently, but the insights of the CPB give a starting signal for the actual negotiations on the purchasing power package. That will be a sizeable package, coalition leaders say. CDA leader Wopke Hoekstra spoke in an interview about investments of at least 10 billion euros in the financial situation of households.
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