German Consumer Confidence Is Expected to Increase in November, Defying Inflation
October 27 2021 - 2:29AM
Dow Jones News
By Maria Martinez
Consumer sentiment in Germany is expected to strengthen in
November, due to increasing propensity to consume and declining
propensity to save, according to data from market-research group
GfK released on Wednesday.
GfK's forward-looking consumer sentiment index forecasts
confidence among households rising to 0.9 point in November from a
revised figure of 0.4 point in October. Economists polled by The
Wall Street Journal anticipated a drop, expecting sentiment to
decline to minus 0.3 point.
GfK uses data from three subindexes from the current month to
derive a sentiment figure for the coming month, measuring
consumers' economic expectations, income expectations and
propensity to buy. In October, propensity to buy increased, while
economic and income expectations decreased.
Propensity to buy increased to 19.4 in October from 13.4 in
September, posting the highest value in ten month, GfK said.
German citizens are clearly expecting further price increases
and that is why they want to make purchases, in order to avoid even
higher prices, Rolf Buerkl, consumer expert at GfK, said.
"If the surge in prices continues, it would put a strain on
consumer sentiment and a fundamental recovery would likely be
further delayed," Mr. Buerkl said.
Economic expectations fell to 46.6 in October from 48.5 in
September. Despite the decline, economic expectations remain at a
high level.
"The good level indicates that consumers remain confident about
the recovery of the German economy," GfK said.
Income expectations dropped to 23.3 in October from 37.4 in
September, as this indicator currently appears to be suffering the
most from mounting inflation costs, as higher prices reduce the
purchasing powers of income, the market-research group said.
Write to Maria Martinez at maria.martinez@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 27, 2021 02:14 ET (06:14 GMT)
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