Consumer confidence and economic climate indicators rose again in April, with confidence in construction, public works and services rising and a retreat in manufacturing and trade, INE announced on Thursday.
According to the results of the National Institute of Statistics’ (INE) Business and Consumer Surveys, “The consumer confidence indicator rose between December and April, after declining in the previous three months, culminating in November lowest value since April 2020 at the start of the pandemic”.
As for the economic climate indicator, “it increased between January and April, reversing the downward movement that started in March 2022”.
According to INE, the evolution of the consumer confidence indicator in April was “the result of the positive contribution of the prospects for the future evolution of the country’s economic and household financial situation and, to a lesser extent, of the opinions on the evolution of the family’s financial situation”.
On the other hand, the outlook for the future evolution of major household purchases made a negative contribution.
The equilibrium of expectations regarding the future development of the country’s economic situation “increased significantly in April”, reached its highest value since February 2022 and resumed the upward trajectory observed since November 2022, which had been interrupted in March.
As for the balance of prospects for the future evolution of the household’s financial situation, “it rose in April, after falling slightly in the previous month, and resumed the positive profile that had started in November”.
In turn, the balance of opinions on past price developments “has risen over the past two months and has remained relatively close to the maximum value of the series recorded in October, following the strong upward trajectory that started in March 2021 “.
The balance of the outlook regarding future price evolution “decreased significantly over the past two months, significantly in April, resuming the marked downward trajectory observed since March 2022, when it reached the maximum value of the range”.
In the manufacturing sector, confidence fell in April, after rising between November and March. This evolution is attributed to the “negative contribution of the production outlook and of the evaluations related to the ‘stocks’ of finished products, with the contribution of opinions on the evolution of stabilized global demand”.
According to INE, the confidence indicator in the intermediate and investment goods group fell, “intensely in the first case”, after rising in the consumer goods category.
The balance of global demand opinions stabilized in April after declining in March, with domestic demand opinions recovering in March and April, “more intense in the reference month”, while external demand opinions recovered in April, contradicting the previous month’s deterioration.
The balance of expectations related to sales prices “diminished over the past six months, after rising in September and October, extending the downward trajectory between May and August and reaching the lowest value since May 2020”.
INE indicates that this balance decreased in all groups: consumer goods, intermediate goods and capital goods.
In turn, the confidence indicator in construction and public works increased in March and April, “more significantly in the second case”, after declining in February, with an evolution in April that “reflected the positive contribution of the two components, assessments of the order book and job prospects, more intense in the latter case”.
In the trading sector, the confidence indicator fell in March and April, interrupting the rise that started in November due to the negative contribution of the components of the sales volume opinion and of the ‘inventories’ volume opinion, while the business prospects of the company contributed positively.
The confidence indicator fell in April in wholesale and rose in retail.
On the services side, they saw the confidence indicator rise in April after falling in March and resume the upward trajectory that started in January.
“The evolution of the indicator resulted from the positive contribution of all components, perspectives on the evolution of demand, assessments of the company’s activity and opinions on the evolution of the order book, expressly in the first case,” explains INE .
News updated at 10:46
Source: DN
