Government will take action on spending power, minister pledges

The cabinet will take action this year to help restore low income families’ spending power, social affairs minister Karien van Gennip said on Wednesday.

The minister made the comments following the publication of new forecasts which suggesting spending power will shrink by 2.7% this year, largely due to higher energy prices.

‘It is highly unusual to do something during the year to bolster spending power but these are unusual times,’ Van Gennip said. ‘The world has changed a lot in the past two weeks.’

Van Gennip did not comment on how spending power would be improved, but on Tuesday prime minister Mark Rutte had said there were ‘no taboos’.

She did, however, stress that not everyone will benefit. ‘As a country, we are collectively poorer because of high energy prices. That means that together we have less to spend,’ she said.

Work is now underway on developing strategy which will be presented to parliament in the very short term, the minister said. News website Nu.nl suggests the new approach could be included in the government’s spring financial statement, which is due in April or May.

MPs from across the political spectrum have called on the cabinet to take action to help poor families who are now faced with soaring energy bills and fuel prices.