Economie•20 aug ’23 10:27Auteur: Remy Kock
The Dutch shopping culture of special offers could be over if the European Commission makes it easier for supermarkets to purchase products outside their own country. BNR lists the most important economic news of this week, so that you are fully informed.
The Dutch shopping culture of special offers could be over if the European Commission makes it easier for supermarkets to purchase products outside their own country. BNR lists the most important economic news of this week, so that you are fully informed. (Peter Hiltz)
Brussels wants to combat European price differences with the measure, but Remy Gieling, founder of AI.nl, thinks it can have major effects on Dutch retail. ‘I’m very curious what it will do for the offers folder.’
Prices for consumer products in Germany, for example, are considerably lower than in the Netherlands. Now the European Commission wants to make it easier for supermarkets, electronics chains and other retailers to purchase products outside their own country. Drugstores in particular are now more or less forced to offer many products in order not to lose a share. And that goes for more retail industries.
Poverty
In any case, it will be a challenge for companies, because consumers will have to deal with a significant decrease in purchasing power. In other words, poverty is rising. This is evident from figures from the Central Planning Bureau. Where this year the number of people in poverty will amount to 4.8 percent, it will rise to 6.1 percent over the period 2025-2028. Purchasing power will also fall this year, by a median of 1.1 percent. The CPB does expect purchasing power to increase again in 2024, by a median of 1.9 percent.
Nevertheless, the CPB finds it remarkable that the economy has not been paralyzed by the various crises. ‘In recent years, the Dutch economy has weathered a number of major shocks surprisingly well. The corona crisis, the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis, high inflation and rising interest rates had major consequences for many households and companies, but the economy as a whole proved resilient.’
fuss
The fuss about savings interest and bank profits is therefore misplaced, says BNR’s house economist Han de Jong. In his column he states that ‘there is a lot to do about the interest on savings’. “People are angry because the banks are making large profits while not passing on the increased interest rates to savers.”
(…) ‘What should we think of it now? If you compare the interest margin with the pre-pandemic period, it is not exceptional and all the complaining seems misplaced. Profitability is exceptional. So banks are making more money than in the past, not because of an excessive interest margin, but because they have increased their efficiency or because they have increased their non-interest income.’
Speed
But where De Jong finds the fuss about savings interest rates misplaced, there is indeed a fuss in Russia, where the Russian central bank had to meet this week because of a plummeted ruble in a desperate attempt to revive the Russian economy. Russians now pay 111 rubles for one euro.
The position of Russian central bank president Elvira Nabiullina is extremely shaky. Especially since the Kremlin holds Russia’s central bank responsible for the collapse of the ruble. And that while Nabiullina is known as a Western-educated, very liberal economist. ‘It’s easy to point fingers,’ says Hein Roelfsema, international economist at Utrecht University. ‘Of course central banks are always important. But the fact that you don’t raise interest rates in times of war can hardly be blamed on people, so to speak. So that’s nonsense, yes.’
2023-08-20 15:04:26
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