Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told CNBC there is “a limit to what government can do” for help people amid rising inflation. pictured here, on February 23, 2022, are containers being transported in port of Rotterdam, in Netherlands.
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Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte on Wednesday said there was “a limit to what government can do” for help people amid rising inflation.
Speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland Rutte told CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick that the Dutch government would help people on lower and lower middle class incomes with them rising energy bills.
However, he added that “you can’t help everything is so … we in The West will be a little poorer because of high inflation, high energy costs.”
Inflation hit 9.6% in Netherlands in April, according to Dutch statistics body CBS. This is slightly below the fixed inflation rate of 9.7%. in March, although it remained historically high.
Dutch government in March announced support measures to help with burden of rising Prices. This included raising him one-off electricity allowance up to 800 euros (852 US dollars), for people with national income social aid level.
Rutte acknowledged that rising prices would represent “social pressure” that he said could be seen playing out in elections throughout Europe.
But he added that “people generally understand that there is a limit to what government can do as long as they feel it’s done in fair way what did you support people who need exactly this.”
Rutte said that one of priorities for his coalition government that was installed in January and took almost 10 months to form, it was social mobility. He said government wanted to deal with with country’s “meritocracy trap” and that other factors, including education, may help people become a part of what he called “Dutch dream.”
Regarding the European Central Bank’s approach to fighting inflation in in the eurozone, Rutte said that “there are ramifications out of energy crisis and out of Ukrainian crisis, which is inevitable also impact on macroeconomic indicators for which I cannot blame central banks for This.”
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