An interest rate shock is expected to hit households and businesses in the first half of 2023, with the eurozone benchmark interest rate peaking by March, COSEC shareholder Allianz Trade expects to present Lusa.

“For households, including Portuguese households, an interest rate shock is likely to be approaching, and it may materialize in the next year,” lead experts from the credit insurance company said in the study “Europe: How big is the interest rate shock in 2023?”, Released on Wednesday and quoted by Lusa.

Allianz Trade estimated that “the average period of transition from the reference interest rate to bank rates, in the case of Portugal, the peak of the reference interest rate in the eurozone will be reached in the first quarter of 2023″, in the second quarter of 2023, similar Forecasts for Spain and Italy”.

According to Allianz Trade specialists, having already tightened the criteria for granting credit to families and companies in the third quarter of this year, banks in the single currency bloc should intensify this policy in the fourth quarter, “which will have an impact on families and companies in the coming months.”

And although an increase in interest rates should cause families to lose their purchasing power, economists at COSEC shareholders acknowledge that “savings obtained during the pandemic may help offset part of the effects that an increase in interest rates will have on the euro budget.” Region “.