How’s economy in your country?

[Hotteok]

Here in Korea people are shutting their wallets tight and not spending at all.. shops are closing and people think 2023 will be a real downward roller coaster ride.. 

 

What is the air of economy like where you live? Hope everyone’s hanging in there.

[Bamahrt]

   Everything is going up.    Food, Fuel Utilities.   Probably most think this is the new norm so they're dealing the best they can.  I haven't really heard anyone say anything to the effect of "prices going lower"    

[LindaViktoria]

Same here in Sweden. The electricity bills will skyrocket during this winter. About four times higher than usual. 

[Lee49]

11 hours ago, Bamahrt said:

I haven't really heard anyone say anything to the effect of "prices going lower" 

I'll say it, I bought gasoline today for $2.28/ gallon, that's a lot lower!    

[Lewis]

Food prices in Canada is expected to rise another 5 to 7 percent for 2023. My home natural gas bill almost doubled last month. 

[New World Explorer]

This is from Financial Review: 

(Australian) The economy has been incredibly resilient this year, with business conditions remaining well above its long-run average. There’s no doubt there are headwinds for households and for the economy generally as we enter next year, and we expect this will see the economy record GDP growth of just below 1 per cent in 2023 and unemployment to rise to around 4.2 per cent.

I think for many people this will feel like a significant slowdown, but we’ll still see growth and Australia is very well-positioned to manage through elevated inflation and higher interest rates compared to other countries, and so are the vast majority of our customers.

Robert Spurway, GrainCorp

 

Despite the uncertainty of higher inflation and cost-of-living pressures, tight labour markets and volatile energy prices, I remain optimistic about the outlook for the Australian economy.

Australia produces resources, food and energy that the world needs, and we have an enviable track record of resilience. Forecasting is never an easy task, but the RBA have the advantage of a strong starting point and opportunity to observe the impact of rate rises and economic response in overseas markets, where disruption and inflationary pressure started earlier than in Australia.https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/slowdown-ahead-australia-s-top-ceos-on-the-economic-outlook-20221215-p5c6tn

 

(Greg )Yes the cost of living is increasing, but people still spend money, and it's increasingly hard to find parking at large shopping centers. Some people have less money to spend ...but they still spend. 

This can change unexpectedly, as the world plunges deeper and deeper into last days.  

 

There is another article: 

The Commonwealth Bank's economics team says it will come down to what shoppers do over the next couple of months.

"Looking beyond the next few months we expect a clear slowing in retail trade and consumer spending more generally. Rising interest rates and the roll off of ultra-low fixed rate loans over 2023 and 2024 will place significant pressure on household budgets," the CBA says.

"High inflation is also cutting into the volume of consumer spending. A slowdown in consumer spending will help reduce domestic inflationary pressures."

The National Australia Bank goes further, forecasting an abrupt economic slowdown which will last into 2024.https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-03/interest-rates-mortgage-inflation-cost-of-living-how-to-cope-rba/101728040

[Paul20]

The New Zealand economy isn't doing great. House prices are dropping fast. Businesses are finding it hard to get workers. There's a lot of cafes and restaurants that have "closed due to extreme staff shortages" signs on their doors. 

 

On a personal note. Food prices are up. Fuel is up. Crime is up. It seems harder to sell used items than it used to be.

 

Still. I think these are the "good times" before we see things like Revelation 6:6 I heard what sounded like a voice in the midst of the four living creatures say: “A quart* of wheat for a de·narʹi·us and three quarts of barley for a de·narʹi·us; and do not harm the olive oil and the wine.”

[Michał]

The inflation in Poland in November was 17,5% y2y and it should reach peak in February ~20%. Everything is more expensive (although fuel went down after May/June highs). People are calculating their purchases. 
 

However, my small business has the best year ever with revenue in 2022 over 30% higher than in 2021. I don’t understand economics (or maybe education doesn’t suffer so much in times of economic crisis + people want to learn English in case the war reaches us one day - they want to have it easier while immigrating to western countries)

[Paul20]

On 12/23/2022 at 10:55 AM, Michał said:

The inflation in Poland in November was 17,5% y2y and it should reach peak in February ~20%. Everything is more expensive (although fuel went down after May/June highs). People are calculating their purchases. 
 

However, my small business has the best year ever with revenue in 2022 over 30% higher than in 2021. I don’t understand economics (or maybe education doesn’t suffer so much in times of economic crisis + people want to learn English in case the war reaches us one day - they want to have it easier while immigrating to western countries)

 

Did you account for inflation with your 30% higher revenue? If not, you probably should deduct 17.5-20% as inflation. 

[Michał]

18 hours ago, Paul20 said:

 

Did you account for inflation with your 30% higher revenue? If not, you probably should deduct 17.5-20% as inflation. 

Not yet. I’m waiting for final inflation figures for the whole 2022. I estimate that inflation adjusted growth is going to be around 15-20%. Still more of what I expected despite the current situation. 

[Brother_Bliss]

The rising home prices have leveled off. Rising food prices have also leveled off. Gas prices have returned to normal after being brutally high over summer.

 

I am booked for work for the next 6 months, so from my point of view the economy is looking just fine.

[retroHelen]

Food prices have increased, Fuel here - Petrol is £8 a gallon and diesel fuel is more. Roads have also been very icy and local councils cannot afford to put salt down on as many roads as they used to, so we have to think carefully about going on long journeys and not using unsalted lanes on motorways or dual carriageways.

 

The cost of electricity is so bad that many are living in houses with temperatures below zero and unable to afford to heat them. One utility company has sent electric over-blankets to vulnerable customers to help them have some inexpensive heat source. We have all been encouraged to wear extra layers - warm yourself rather than the room where it is healthy to do that. People are saving cooking costs by using their microwaves or air fryers rather than putting on ovens that have to heat up first and cost a lot to run.  When the prices for electricity and gas went up suddenly, most of the low price utility companies went bankrupt, so customers were transferred to more expensive ones. If they paid a fix fee monthly, these new companies sent them ridiculously increased monthly tariffs that many could not afford. 

 

To help with the subzero temperatures here at present, we were also told to tape extra layers of bubble wrap at our windows;People were encouraged to use dehumidifiers more as it is very damp here as well. Condensation freezes on windows overnight and then thaws to pools on windowsills in the day, so people were filling old long socks with kitty litter or trays of sodium chloride/salt to absorb it or just wiping it up every day to mitigate against toxic black mould growing on damp windowsills and walls. We are putting foil covered cardboard sheets down the backs of any working radiators to reflect heat back into rooms and not absorb into walls unnecessarily. 

 

It is so unfair that electricity and gas companies charge twice the Kilowatt hour and standing charges for using gas or electricity in businesses/shops, so our shared shop had it's gas supply totally disconnected as we cannot afford even to leave the heating off with such high standing charges still ticking over. This is on top of our very high business rates/tax; and our shop rents - no wonder so many shops are closing, we may even end up doing that ourselves, but would miss it greatly - we have many good customers and enjoy interacting with them. Many high streets have boarded up shops now - looking derelict, the once thriving market towns.

 

We changed all our lightbulbs in the shop and home to LED lights. Even lighting rows of glass shop display cabinets with LED string lights (also called fairy lights in UK) instead of the old halogen spotlights they had before, to save money. I even have them at home in the kitchen under my overhead kitchen cupboards as the old spotlights cost too much to run. Need them here with such short days and it going dark after 3.30 pm.

 

A customer came into the shop and could not afford to buy what he wanted. Then he said how he had felled trees on his land that were felled 5 years ago - too many to burn on his fireplace for years. He offered that if he sawed up 2 car boot loads of wood would we take that instead of cash - like barter. We agreed and took a box of goods  to him and filled our car boot and it's back seats with wood for 2 runs. We have a multifuel stove at home that heats 7 radiators and the hot water system and buying fuel in has become expensive as the smokeless fuel was from Eastern Europe , local domestic fuel mines are closed and not re-opening. The smokeless fuel has tripled in price and bought kiln dried wood logs has doubled in price. 

 

[LoneWanderer]

On 12/24/2022 at 11:45 PM, Brother_Bliss said:

The rising home prices have leveled off. Rising food prices have also leveled off. Gas prices have returned to normal after being brutally high over summer.

 

I am booked for work for the next 6 months, so from my point of view the economy is looking just fine.

On West Coast, though, a small condo, not to mention a house, remains unattainable for low/middle income earners. The extremely high interest rates used to cool off the market would have (in our situation) meant a $500-700/mo increase in payments. What was a 1bd for approx. 400k pre-pandemic, is now listed at 500k. Very disheartening. Especially when one would technically need a 20% downpayment to avoid paying property mortgage insurance.

 

Can’t wait for the time when we will “build houses and live in them […]”, enjoy our work to the full, and will not have to be toiling for nothing. (Isa. 65:21, 22) 😓

[Brother_Bliss]

On 1/4/2023 at 5:37 PM, LoneWanderer said:

On West Coast... What was a 1bd for approx. 400k pre-pandemic, is now listed at 500k

 

1/2 million for a 1 bedroom house or condo? Yikes!

 

I'll stay over here towards the east, lol

[LoneWanderer]

On 1/5/2023 at 2:48 PM, Brother_Bliss said:

 

1/2 million for a 1 bedroom house or condo? Yikes!

 

I'll stay over here towards the east, lol

Condos only, small houses start at 600k in bad areas, and usually go for 800k-900k in better areas 

[hatcheckgirl]

The situation in Australia is not promising, and I imagine even worse in less buffered economies such as ours. The Reserve Bank, our Central Bank, is not finished raising interest rates. But rate increases have not stopped spending to curb inflation (ours is around 7-8%).  The crisis worldwide of pandemic and war has pushed inflation everywhere through the roof, amid a climate of stagnated wages that has meant people have not been able to keep up.

 

But…..now we are starting to see unemployment edging up. This combination of high interest rates and lower employment has not stopped inflation though. So, we are in uncharted waters since the traditional economic models aren’t doing what they are supposed to do. It has to do with greed.

 

“We know demand and supply forces are driving the current soaring inflation.

The Reserve Bank has confirmed higher business costs (and businesses passing those costs on to customers in the form of higher prices) is driving the bulk of inflation.

We also know now that costs have actually been trending down for businesses, but they are yet to reduce their prices.

 

The problem here is that this profiteering may be occurring among firms delivering essential goods and services, items — like gas, for example — that some households cannot do without.

 

It's unclear if this means some low-income households will endure a period of having to forgo basic items.

 

As it stands now though, the households carrying the financial burden of containing inflation are low-income households.

 

Lowe (head of Reserve Bank) told MPs this week that all income segments are driving inflation, but wealthy households more so, and low-income families are disproportionately feeling the pain of rate rises.

This was new in terms of what we know about the "demand" landscape and a harsh reminder of the reality of a rising interest rate environment with low levels of wage growth and high levels of household debt.

 

Prosperous households are inadvertently pushing inflation higher and low-income households are paying the biggest price.”

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-18/higher-interest-rates-coming-hurt-some-more-than-others/101989320

 

Doesn’t this remind us of Rev 6:5,6, where the poor will feel this impact more that the wealthy? We are seeing it before our eyes, in all countries now, not just the poorer ones.