2023-11-17 12:17:00
We are currently buying cheaper than a year ago. Prices have fallen overall by 1.7% compared to October 2023. When we go shopping, we notice that the receipt is increasing. So how to explain it? Is it valid for all goods?
You may have noticed it. The price of your October energy bill has reached its lowest level in a year. Electricity now costs 50.7% less than last year. Natural gas saw a 77% price drop. These reductions have a significant impact on inflation. “Energy accounts for around fifteen percent of total consumer spending in Belgium. Well, this 15% which has a weight in overall consumption, prices have fallen so much that this manages to compensate for the increase of everything else”, explains economist Philippe Ledent.
This negative inflation is on par with the month of July 2009. But will we feel it on our receipt at the supermarket? “If I go to a supermarket where I buy neither electricity nor gas, then basically my receipt will have increased over a year because the prices of food mainly are still up over a year,” indicates economist Philippe Ledent.
Food prices continue to rise. For what ?
Indeed, certain items have a positive impact on inflation: food products are up by 9.2%, alcohol and tobacco by 8.9%, dairy products by 13% and dried fruits by 8. 6%. “Food prices continue to rise. For what ? Because the first shock was energy, but it is therefore only with a delay that this energy price is slowly transmitted throughout the rest of the economy. And prices have actually adjusted upwards and continue to do so. You should also know that VAT, which is proportional, of course contributes to amplifying the increase in prices, particularly in the food sector.explains Bruno Colmant, economist and university professor.
General inflation will not continue to be negative in the coming months but, according to some economists, food inflation will begin to subside.
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