The Central Planning Bureau has calculated that the purchasing power of an average household could fall by around 4% this year and next, despite the price cap to be introduced in January. “It is very annoying that inflation continues,” says Adriaansens. ‘But if we hadn’t done something about the price cap, it would have been much worse. That’s the good news.’
Inflation without a price cap would be 6% higher.
The CPB has calculated that price-cap inflation, at current energy prices, will be 3.5 percent in 2023. Without the price cap, inflation will be as much as 6 percent higher, according to the Bureau of Energy. planning. “The planning office rightly says that we should look at structural measures, we are doing that too,” says Adriaansens, referring to energy costs which will remain “structurally at a high level,” according to the CPB.
“It’s a challenge to pay for all of this. However, it is important to look at what this will mean for the Netherlands in the long run. We have to work on structural solutions, which can be of a fiscal nature,’ underlines the minister.