Higher interest rates, more expensive food and rampant electricity prices – 2023 has been a tough year for many households’ wallets.
Next year, households are expected to continue to struggle with high interest rates on mortgages and more expensive rents, but for some expenditure items relief is visible.
This applies above all to the electricity bill, which – unless there is an extremely cold winter or something else unforeseen happens in the electricity supply – will be 30 percent cheaper in 2024 compared to this year, according to the Consumer Agency’s calculations.
Food prices are rising
However, fees for water and sewerage as well as food prices are expected to continue to rise, by 15 and 8 percent respectively.
“Higher manufacturing and transport costs remain and drive up food prices,” says Kristina Difs, manager at the Swedish Consumer Agency, in a press release.
It will also be 30 percent more expensive to buy clothes and shoes, but this is more due to the fact that the contents of the basic wardrobe have changed rather than that prices have risen, the agency writes.
Accommodation and travel are missing
Two of the households’ largest expenditure items, accommodation and travel, are not included in the calculation. This is because they vary greatly from household to household and are therefore difficult to calculate.
“You have to add these costs yourself when you make a budget or when you make a calculation of all the costs of a household,” says Kristina Difs.
On behalf of the government, the Swedish Consumer Agency annually prepares a forecast for household costs for the coming year. The forecast functions, among other things, as support for the municipalities when they calculate subsistence allowances and for the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, but also for households that want to make their own budget.
“Our calculations are not based on any luxury consumption or just life’s necessities. We try to come up with the most realistic figures possible. We usually get reactions both from those who think we take in too much, and from those who don’t understand how we can calculate like that low,” says Kristina Difs.