For the coming months, the Asian movement will also pose the greatest threat to European countries, which want to meet their gas needs. The price of natural gas on Friday afternoon was around 27.90 euros per megawatt hour, which means that the price is around 18% higher than a week earlier. Compared to last year’s peak, however, it is still several times lower. Compared to the beginning of 2023, this is a percentage of 60%.
However, that does mean that there is a good chance that inflation will come down, according to macroeconomist Edin Mujagic. He says energy prices also increased in the same period last year and that there are growing signs of a slowdown in economic activity in the Netherlands, Europe and the United States. “In short, it means that demand growth is slowing down and that helps dampen inflation,” Mujagic said. “If inflation goes from 10 to 2 percent, for example, it doesn’t mean that everything will get cheaper, just that it will get more expensive a little slower than before.”
Don’t expect a reduction
The European Central Bank’s continued rate hikes to curb inflation also play a role. ECB President Christine Lagarde already indicated last week that consumers shouldn’t count on interest rate cuts for now. You argue that inflation has not yet peaked in the eurozone. “Only then can we stop raising interest rates,” Lagarde said. Across the EU, there is still a “mixed picture” regarding inflation. ‘In Germany it went from 7.2 to 6.1. In France there is 0.8 percent, in Spain there is 1 percent and in Italy over half a percent. But one country goes up while other countries go down. Interest rates are falling, particularly in the larger countries,’ says Jasper Lukkezen, editor-in-chief of the economists’ magazine ESB.
Inflation also fluctuates in the Netherlands. Especially since the Dutch trade unions have obtained wage increases in many sectors. And that’s not good news, says Klaas Knot, chairman of De Nederlandsche Bank. Knot specifically refers to wage increases of 10% or more as agreed for employees of supermarkets and distribution centers, among others. “If we want to get back to 2% inflation in a sustainable way, we will also need to get back to 2.5-3% wage inflation,” he said during a panel discussion in the House of Representatives. “I am concerned that the phase-out process will still be too slow and will encounter a number of obstacles, including more recent wage agreements. And then I have in mind the double digits in particular».
ECB concern
But where the process of extinguishing inflation is going too slowly for Knot, the process of extinguishing streaming service ViaPlay in the Netherlands appears to be going even faster. Earlier this week, the company announced it had fired its CEO, after which the company’s value on the Stockholm stock exchange vanished to make matters worse. According to sports marketer Chris Woerts, the company wanted to grow too fast, “they gambled and lost.”