Survey finds Europeans fear economic slowdown

21 Apr '16

5 min read

At the other end of the spectrum, British consumers are expecting a moderate increase in wages and salaries over the next few months. In March, income expectations lay at 17.7 points. Although this figure is more than 5 points lower than in December, it is similar to the level seen in March of last year (15.8 points).

As was also the case in the last quarter, only a few British consumers currently wish to make expensive purchases. This is illustrated by the fact that the propensity to buy indicator lay at 11.1 points in March. This represents an increase of 0.5 points in comparison with December as well as a rise of 2.3 points compared with this time last year.

In November of last year, the Italians' economic expectations rose to 1.9 points, which marked the first time the indicator had been in the positive range since March 2010. However, the positive trends which brought about this growth are now a distant memory, as the indicator had dropped back to -21.4 points by March. This represents a loss of 20 points since December. It therefore seems as if Italian consumers do not believe that last year's positive economic figures will continue this year.

Income expectations fell to -3 points in March, despite having reached 8.4 points in January, the highest value since May 2002 (8.5 points). The indicator is, however, 0.8 points higher than it was in March 2015. The main reason for this very low level is undoubtedly the continued high level of unemployment. Although this decreased by 0.7 percentage points last year, in February it still lay at 11.7 per cent.

In contrast, propensity to buy continued to increase. The indicator stood at 26.4 points in March, which is 2 points higher than in December. In January, it climbed to 27.8 points, which is the highest value since June 1992 when 30.1 points were recorded. It seems as if Italian consumers believe now is a favorable time to make bigger purchases or spend larger sums of money. However, due to the continued difficult economic situation in which many consumers currently find themselves, it waits to be seen whether they can afford to make such purchases and will actually spend money on expensive products and services.

The GfK Consumer Climate Europe study surveys around 40,000 people a month in the 28 countries of the EU. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India

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