A recent survey has found that six in ten Belgians claim that Europe's soaring inflation has caused them to suffer "extremely harshly" over the past few months, with women, low and middle-income and elderly people disproportionately affected.
The study, which was carried out on a representative sample of 1,000 Belgians by BUFFL, a Flemish market research firm, also found that a mere 5% of Belgians believe that they are currently experiencing "little to no impact" from the inflation crisis.
In addition, the study noted that many Belgians remain deeply pessimistic about the prospect of inflation subsiding any time soon: half of the country's citizens think that prices will continue to rise until at least the winter of 2024, while a mere 13% believe that the crisis will be over by next summer.
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Though unquestionably negative, Belgians' attitude remains significantly more optimistic than that of Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, who recently predicted that "the next five to ten winters will be difficult" for Europe's citizens.
Belgians' outlook is also consistent with the US Federal Reserve's own economic projections, which expects high inflation to persist until 2024.
