Dear reader,
At the end of the year, there was still a lot of news to collect from the economic sector. In first place was the European Central Bank, which once again decided to do so raise interest rates by 0.5 percentage points, in one year it is already an increase of more than 2.5 percentage points. For example, you try to fight inflation, but it also has its consequences some important side effects. With some delay, we see savings becoming a bit attractive again: Belfius was the first major bank to raise the interest rate on savings accounts to 0.5 per cent, while now rivals follow one another .
Yet we must continue to warn against expensive living, that won’t change anytime soon. For some, it now consists of monitoring their energy bill in detail almost every day, which has led to annoying hits with the early December cold snap: a consumption in two weeks at almost 400 euros was no exception. Fortunately, we were able to spoil you again this week with lots of interesting saving tips how to use your cell phone longer and whether it is important to do so unused chargers from the wall outlet gain.
The Belgian budget was once again in the negative news, now also a constant in our weekly meeting. The National Bank has warned of one “risk of derailment” due to the unsustainability of public finances. The IMF therefore wants our country to start next year save at least four billion euros. Fortunately, it hasn’t all been doom: it’s surprising that the NBB in its annual forecasts no recession expected for our country, unlike most other analysts. A small 0.1% contraction in the economy is forecast for this quarter alone, but it should pick up again in early 2023. Especially since you and I have continued to spend money. “Consumer confidence in companies has fallen sharply,” says Geert Langenus, an economist at the SNB. “But that didn’t match the actual sales in stores.” It is one of the positive consequences of wage indexation, which has maintained our purchasing power.
How are the two bad boys of corporate America doing now? Elon Musk, after a Twitter poll, in which the majority wanted him to leave, looking for a new CEO. It’s also a necessity: more than forty billion euros of Tesla’s market value went up in smoke last week. Speculators are tired of Musk abandoning his parent company and seem to only have eyes for Twitter. Sam Bankman-Fried, the former head of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, agreed his extradition to the United States. He will likely face years in prison for the fraud.
Speaking of scammers, Donald Trump, who is currently being turned upside down by the US Justice Department, had a “major announcement” late last week. Would he announce his new vice president? No, he brought a set NFT digital trading cards on the market with himself as a superhero, astronaut and cowboy at almost a hundred dollars each. Less than a day later, the 45,000 copies had already been shipped and he had earned almost five million euros from his still loyal fans.
Next week, we look back on the past year as we examine the most read articles on money and the economy. So definitely keep an eye out.
Happy holiday
