Hugo Erken, head of Dutch economics at RaboResearch, has been studying this phenomenon, also known as “Graaiflation”. Due to the war in Ukraine, the price of energy has skyrocketed, which has a knock-on effect on the price level. ‘Everyone should have contributed, but clearly this has not happened with entrepreneurs. Because the profits have only increased.’
The fact that the entrepreneurs deliberately profited from the price increase, Erken goes too far. Businesses have also made significant savings. ‘We see it very clearly in energy consumption.’ Furthermore, considerable savings have been made on the use of semi-finished products and raw materials and this ‘has also given a significant boost to profit’.
Rising wage costs also play a role. According to Erkens, these costs always appear with a lag in the companies’ data, due to the annual collective bargaining. Data from the AWVN employers’ association shows that new collective bargaining agreements have increased by 7.5% this year. According to Erken, it is also plausible that the companies have pre-ordered the expected higher personnel costs.