Purchasing power schemes were certainly not thriving on budget day: no more than a minimum plus of 0.1 or 0.2 percent could be achieved. At the time, a much smaller increase in inflation was expected from the 5.6 percent for November that the Central Bureau of Statistics announced on Tuesday.
Inflation is “passing through the roof,” notes de Jong, an MP for the PVV party, who stated that minimum purchasing power plus Prinsjesdag has “evaporated hundreds of times”: “It was really nothing, but millions of people are now heading hard.”
“You see people fall into their hooves,” says PvdA member Nijboer. “They’re going back next year.” VVD MP Tielen is “definitely concerned” about “almost unprecedented” inflation, and this also applies to SP Van Kent, who mentions “extremely high inflation figures”. GL’er Maatoug asks: “What is the Secretary of State going to do to correct these numbers?” MP Umtzigt is demanding a rapid increase in the minimum wage, a topic currently chewed up by the formed parties.
Purchasing Power Recovery Plan
PVV’er De Jong wants the outgoing government to quickly come up with a “Purchasing Power Restoration Plan” and will also send it to the VVD. Tillen endorses it: “I understand that and I agree with him. I am willing to see together where there is room for that.” But it also has a few tricks up its sleeve, because quickly assembling such a package is “a bit complicated” and also costs a lot of money.
This makes Niebuhr skeptical, he doubts whether the purchasing power scheme will come soon: “I’m afraid the position of the VVD is more in the discussions than the outcome.”
The outgoing Foreign Minister Wesma (Social Affairs) will answer questions from the House of Representatives on Thursday. He will actually send out an arithmetic exercise on Tuesday on what higher inflation will do to signs of purchasing power. They are already shooting in the red zone, but the numbers are accompanied by the necessary condition. For example, the Cabinet intervention is not yet included in the $1 billion energy bill. The Central Planning Office will not introduce new purchasing power charts again until March 2022.
