Purchasing power up 50pc

2 March 2005

BRUSSELS – Purchasing power in Belgium has risen by fifty percent in 30 years, new figures have revealed.

In real terms disposable income per person rose from EUR 10,200 in 1973 to EUR 15,300 in 2003.

The figures were established by Philippe Defeyt, an economist and the previous federal secretary of the Ecolo party.

The study also shows the large gap in the evolution of prices.

For example, while television sets have dropped 31 percent in price, cinema tickets have gone up by 412 percent and cigarettes by 750 percent.

If you take revenue by head, only the price of cod, cigarettes and newspapers are rising faster than disposable income.

But if you look at equivalent income, the price of mocha cakes, a cinema ticket and a deposit for buying an average house are evolving faster than disposable income.

“Not everyone has benefited in the same way from the growth in disposable income,” said Defeyt.

The economist has already done studies showing that the minimum wage and unemployment benefits have not risen as fast as average salaries or the national revenue per head of population.

As a consequence the revenue of the unemployed and of invalids have not grown as quickly.

[Copyright Expatica 2005]

Subject: Belgian news