Germans' confidence declining
Source: Agencies |
December 23, 2009, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A SURVEY released yesterday showed that consumer confidence in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, continued to decline amid fears of job losses.
The survey by the GfK research group found a third consecutive slip in consumer confidence, even though business confidence has been rising for months.
The Nuremberg-based group's forward-looking consumer climate index for January stood at 3.3 points ¨? down from a revised 3.6 points in December and 4 points in November.
Besides fears of job losses in the new year, the "expectation of rising prices in the energy sector is currently having a dampening effect," GfK said.
"Looming uncertainty as a result of worsening conditions in the labor market is leading to a perceptible increase in the propensity to save. This is also weighing on the consumer climate," it added.
The concern comes even though the jobless rate in November unexpectedly narrowed by 0.1 percentage points to 7.6 percent, with some 3.2 million Germans out of work in a population of approximately 82 million.
Despite the decline in consumer confidence, business confidence in Germany is on the upswing.
Last week, the Ifo business climate index rose to 94.7 points ¨? its highest level since July 2008.
The survey by the GfK research group found a third consecutive slip in consumer confidence, even though business confidence has been rising for months.
The Nuremberg-based group's forward-looking consumer climate index for January stood at 3.3 points ¨? down from a revised 3.6 points in December and 4 points in November.
Besides fears of job losses in the new year, the "expectation of rising prices in the energy sector is currently having a dampening effect," GfK said.
"Looming uncertainty as a result of worsening conditions in the labor market is leading to a perceptible increase in the propensity to save. This is also weighing on the consumer climate," it added.
The concern comes even though the jobless rate in November unexpectedly narrowed by 0.1 percentage points to 7.6 percent, with some 3.2 million Germans out of work in a population of approximately 82 million.
Despite the decline in consumer confidence, business confidence in Germany is on the upswing.
Last week, the Ifo business climate index rose to 94.7 points ¨? its highest level since July 2008.
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