The consumer confidence indicator fell to its lowest level since the start of the pandemic in September and the economic climate indicator retreated in August and September, away from its February peak, the INE announced on Thursday.
According to the National Statistics Institute’s (INE) Conjuncture Surveys on Companies and Consumers, “The consumer confidence indicator fell in September, reaching its lowest level since the start of the pandemic in April 2020, and is at a lower level than March, when there was the second most intense decline in the series.”
As for the economic climate indicator, “it fell in August and September, moving away from the level observed in February, where it reached its maximum since March 2019”.
According to INE, the evolution of the consumer confidence indicator in September “resulted from the negative contribution of all components, opinions and expectations related to the financial situation of the household, prospects for the future evolution of the economic situation of the country and the implementation of important purchases by families”.
The balance of expectations regarding the future evolution of the country’s economic situation fell, “contrary to the increase observed over the past two months”, after the balance of opinions on the evolution of the financial situation of the household was down to “the lowest level since June 2014”.
As for the outlook for the future evolution of the household’s financial situation, “they deteriorated significantly in September, falling to the lowest value since the start of the pandemic in April 2020”.
In turn, the balance of opinions on past price developments “increased slightly in September, extending the maximum value of the series recorded in the previous two months, after the marked upward trajectory that started in March 2021” .
By contrast, the balance of perspectives regarding future price developments increased in September, following the declines observed in the two preceding months.
According to INE, the confidence indicator in services “diminished significantly” in September, following increases in construction and public works, trade and manufacturing, “slightly in the latter two cases”.
In the manufacturing sector, confidence “increased slightly in September, after falling in the previous two months”, resulting in the evolution of this indicator from the positive contribution of opinions on the evolution of global demand and of assessments related to the ‘stocks’ of finished products, with the production outlook contributing negatively.
“The confidence indicator has risen in the grouping of consumer goods, after a decline in the grouping of semi-finished and investment goods,” the INE describes.
The balance of global demand assessments rose in September, in contrast to last month’s decline, with opinions on domestic demand recovering “weakly” after last month’s deterioration, and opinions on foreign demand “slightly” deteriorated , after the recovery of the past two months.
The confidence indicator for the construction and public works sector “increased in September, suspending the downward movement that started in February”, reflecting the positive contribution of the two components, order book assessments and employment prospects.
In the trading sector, the confidence indicator “risens slightly” in September, after falling over the past two months, reflecting the positive contribution of sales volume opinions, the company’s business outlook and stock volume ratings. ‘ contributed negatively.
In September, the confidence indicator rose in wholesale and fell in retail.
As for the confidence in services indicator, “it fell significantly in September, in contrast to the increase observed the previous month”.
The INE explains that “the behavior of the indicator was due to the negative contribution of all components, opinions about the evolution of the order book, assessments of the company’s activity and perspectives regarding the evolution of demand, significantly in the first two cases”.
Source: DN
