Grand Barometer: Walloons and Brussels residents will tighten their belts for end-of-year gifts

Nearly one out of two Walloons and Brussels residents (49%) plan to spend less than last year on end-of-year gifts. Only the Flemings think, with a short head (51%), of spending the same thing.

Survey –
Journalist in the Economy department

By Benoit July

Published on 4/12/2022 at 7:00 p.m.Reading time: 2 mins

Lhis question may seem trivial, except that it is very representative of the effects of the purchasing power crisis that is raging in our country, as everywhere else in Europe: will the Belgians (have to) tighten their belt for the end of year celebrations? For trade, such a question is in any case not anecdotal because the fact that the consumer or not loosens the purse strings in this period often determines the success of the year…

According to our Grand Barometer Le Soir-RTL Info-Ipsos-VTM-Het Laatste Nieuws, the answer is relatively reassuring, at least if we decide to interpret the figures by the yardstick of a glass half full: nearly one Belgian out of two (47%) say they want to spend the same as last year on gifts for Saint Nicholas, Christmas and New Year. same thing, i.e. 51% of them, or even more (a small 2%…), they will be respectively only 39% and 36% in Wallonia and Brussels to want, or be able, to be as generous as in 2021 .

The version of the “glass half empty” therefore gives a significantly less pleasing reading given that this year, nearly one in two Walloons and one out of two Brussels residents, i.e. 49% in each case, intend to spend less on end-of-year gifts year than last year, with only 41% of Flemings accepting this perspective.

For reasons that everyone will interpret in their own way, it should also be noted that men and women do not respond in the same way: 49% of them think they are spending less than last year, compared to 39% of men who, conversely, 51% want to spend the same thing (43% of women).

This is, of course, only a very targeted way of measuring the impact of the crisis on the purchasing power of Belgians, which our Barometer will also examine through, among other things, their assessment of the protective effect of indexation.