The inclination of German consumers to put their money into consumption is increasing. This is determined by the new GFK study on the consumer climate, the index determined is rising again. However, it is still at a fairly low level.
Consumer sentiment in Germany is still on course for recovery. Consumers assessed the economy and their own income expectations much more positively than recently, as the study by the Nuremberg consumer research company GFK on the consumer climate showed. The propensity to buy – ie the willingness to buy larger economic goods – has recently been moving up and down and has recently increased only slightly.
“Consumer pessimism, which reached its absolute peak last autumn, is fading,” said GFK consumer expert Rolf Bürkl. Despite ongoing crises such as the Ukraine war, a weakening global economy and high inflation rates, the consumer climate continued to improve. “Thus it clearly remains on the recovery path, if the level remains low.”
Bürkl blamed the improved consumer sentiment primarily on the fact that prices did not rise as much as expected. “Recently lower energy prices, but also reports that experts believe that a recession in Germany can now be avoided this year mean that optimism is slowly returning,” said the expert.
Despite the increased expectations, the consumer climate in Germany remains at a comparatively low level. The Nuremberg researchers give consumer sentiment for March a value of -30.5. This is an increase of 3.3 points compared to February. In the pre-crisis period, the value for the consumer climate was relatively constant at around 10.
According to the GFK researchers, private consumption will probably not be able to make a positive contribution to economic development in Germany this year. And this despite the fact that the expectations for the economy have risen significantly with a plus of 6.6 points and have exceeded the long-term zero line again for the first time.