Planificar y priorizar el gasto, claves domésticas ante la cuesta de enero, según una economista de la Universidad de Navarra
Planning and prioritizing the expense, domestic keys to face January's hard January, according to an economist from the University of Navarra.
Anti-crisis measures to contain the deficit and improve public finances will have a greater impact on consumers and businesses
Planning, rationalizing and prioritizing the expense are the main keys for families to overcome the cost of January, according to Isabel Rodríguez, professor of Macroeconomics at the School of Economic and Business Sciences of the University of Navarra. The expert stressed that in a crisis status like the current one it is especially important to be aware of the fixed income and that all members of the family assume the task of cost containment.
These can be controlled with the effort of everyday gestures," he adds. For example, it is enough to turn off appliances on stand-by, share cars to reduce the number of trips to issue or take advantage of sales to buy at the lowest prices. In this sense, it is worth considering which expenditures are superfluous.
"The fact that the traditional January slope coincides with a negative economic period will make consumers and companies feel the effects of the measures aimed at containing the deficit and improving public accounts," continued the economist. Thus, he expressed that "the increase of some fees, the elimination of the 400 euros deductible from personal income tax or taxes on savings and consumption will aggravate the economic outlook for families after the extraordinary Christmas shopping or sales".
Unemployment and VAT increase
Similarly, in the opinion of Professor Isabel Rodríguez, the unemployment rate, close to 20%, and the data of the survey Active Population Survey for the third quarter of 2009, which sample shows that issue of households with unemployed members has grown by approximately 78 percentage points with respect to the previous year, are not very encouraging.
On the other hand, the specialist warned that the increase in the tax on added value will have an impact on all families and will slow down consumption. "The increase of two percentage points, on some goods, may not seem very visible purchase by purchase, but some programs of study suggest that this increase would cut growth in the medium and long term deadline by approximately one point," she pointed out.
Despite all this, he suggested that the outlook for 2010 is more optimistic: "Although status will continue to be difficult, we may see a slowdown in the fall of Economics and possible positive, albeit low, growth for the second half of the year".