We close a year in which the general rise in prices has made it difficult for many families to make ends meet. How will the economy evolve in 2023? What can we do to adjust the family budget? We talk about it with Xavi Viñolas, Editor of 11Onze and Gemma Vallet, Director of 11Onze District, in a new episode of La Plaça, Territori 17’s radio show.

With a year-on-year inflation rate of 8.4%, 2022 has been disastrous for many families who have seen their purchasing power fall to unsustainable levels. Runaway price rises have pushed up the cost of living at a time when many households were just recovering from the shock of the pandemic. What lies ahead for 2023?

This year, we will see whether central banks can halt the rise in prices without neutering the recovery of economies. Financial analysts predict that inflation will fall to 5%, but as Viñolas points out, “in a context of uncertainty and high economic volatility, we have to take any economic forecast with a grain of salt, the same experts told us that current inflation would only last a few months”.

Proactivity in reducing expenses

Now, more than ever, it is necessary to have a piggy bank for possible unforeseen events. But, faced with an economic context that does not favour saving and where our money has lost a good part of its value, it is not easy to reduce our monthly expenses in order to save.

The editor of 11Onze suggests we be proactive and look at reducing some fixed expenses, which are not always difficult to cut. Services contracted on a permanent basis, such as home or car insurance, can be renegotiated, or we can simply switch to a provider that offers a policy without permanence and more suited to our needs, which can be much cheaper.

Likewise, suppliers of utilities, such as electricity, can give us some room for manoeuvre, changing the contracted power or switching from the free market to the regulated market. Modifying the contract or looking for more reasonable offers can mean considerable savings and help us to balance the budget at the end of the month.

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