AMSTERDAM - High inflation and low interest rates cost Dutch savers the equivalent of 9 billion euros last year, according to calculations by financial comparison website Geld.nl. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) announced earlier in the day that consumer prices rose by 2.7 percent in 2021.

Geld.nl looked further at figures from the Dutch Central Bank regarding the amount people living in the Netherlands have in savings. "We all had about 340 billion euros in freely withdrawable savings accounts," said expert Amanda Bulthuis from Geld.nl. Account holders received an average of 0.05 percent interest on this, which amounts to a total of 170 million euros.

"However, due to inflation of 2.7 percent, savings also lost 9.18 billion euros in value," said Bulthuis. "If you cancel out interest and inflation, you're left with a depreciation of 9 billion euros."

Energy price developments in particular contributed to higher inflation last year. While in 2020, the price increase was 1.3 percent, in 2021 electricity prices rose on average by more than 22 percent.

In December last year, inflation rose to 5.7 percent on an annual basis, the highest level in nearly 40 years. According to Statistics Netherlands, gas and electricity bills in the last month of 2021 were almost 75 percent higher than a year earlier.