2023-10-04 04:40:00
Food banks and anti-poverty networks sound the alarm: “The increase in our beneficiaries is worrying”
According to this Intrum report, the expenditure/revenue ratio would in fact be in deficit of €239 each month for these families. According to this same report, 55% of households are in balance, just managing to “make ends meet” while one in three households manage to put a little aside each month. “A significant part of the population lives structurally beyond its means,” summarizes Guy Van Mullum, of Intrum Benelux.
One in six Belgian households ends each month in the red: “A significant part of the population lives structurally beyond its means”
Marco, a resident of Brussels, is one of those who, unfortunately, has to dip into his savings from time to time. “My salary has increased a lot but my rent has been indexed by much more than my salary,” he testifies, on the Debates page of dh.be. And that’s without taking into account everyday life: we get 10% more to do our shopping.”
The only solution for Marco: deprive himself “of many things.” But, he says, at the slightest unforeseen event, he sometimes ends up in the red. “For example, if the school asks for funds for an outing or if one of my children gets sick and I have to pay for the doctor’s visit and medicine. Fortunately, I never fall into the red by much, but the months are so tight that sometimes you have no choice.”
During a survey carried out on dh.be and which has no intention of claiming to be scientific, nearly 44% of respondents said they “often” end their month-end in the red. If some were already in difficulty before the inflationary crisis generated by the covid crisis and accelerated by the energy consequences of the conflict in Ukraine, the explosion in prices recorded over the last twenty months has contributed to drowning those who were in unstable equilibrium until then . So how do they manage to get out of it? For many households, the answer lies in the deprivation box. Leisure, vacations, new clothes and even, for nearly 210,000 Belgians, food.
Yves says he doesn’t often fall into the red. “But it can be very easy to switch to the other side,” he says. When you receive your property tax, your outstanding balance insurance, your building expense provision in the same month, you quickly realize that that month you spend triple your salary. So it’s a matter of daily management, especially when you’re single or a single-parent family….”
Despite careful management, this does not prevent Marco from seeing his bank accounts fall into the red. To the point that he looked for other accommodation to pay less for his rent. “But rental prices have become unaffordable,” he laments. We are over €1000 for a two-bedroom apartment. We must add to this electricity, gas, water, car, insurance, etc. All basic and mandatory bills have increased by 10%, but my salary does not follow this crazy increase (Editor’s note: l (salary indexation is gross)!”
So as not to be caught off guard, Michel has his own technique. Which allows him to stay in the green. “Without depriving myself,” he assures. To achieve this, there are so many promotions in so many stores that it is without any deprivation. Look at the 1+1, even 2+3 offers, go buy your cleaning products or canned goods during these promotions. Even pasta is on sale almost every quarter (for a blue Italian brand) at 2Kg+2Kg free in various supermarkets. Search, look, wait and go buy during the offers, for the rest fruits and vegetables we also find nice prices.”
According to the European survey on income and living conditions, 9.5% of the Belgian population is in a situation of material and social deprivation. Or 1.083 million people. In the Brussels region, 17.5% of the population is affected compared to 14.4% in Wallonia and 5.4% in the north of the country.
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