Consumer confidence in record slide
In February 2020 consumer confidence in Greece had climbed to an almost 20-year peak at -4.8 points. It took just a few weeks for it to slide back down to -16.5 points in March, according to Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) statistics released on Wednesday, with the monthly reduction of 11.7 points being the biggest ever recorded from one month to the next.
The reason for this record decline is that pessimism over their financial situation and labor security had returned to the majority of households. Consequently, while in February the index concerning households’ financial situation was positive by 2.5 points, as optimistic answers had outnumbered pessimistic ones, in March it went back into the red, at -17.1 points, with 45 percent of households expecting a deterioration of their financial situation, against just 21 percent a month earlier.
Meanwhile the forecast index regarding the outlook for unemployment in the next 12 months showed a strong increase to +16.1 points, from -0.9 points in February. Three in seven households (42 percent) now expect a rise in the jobless rate, up from 29 percent in February.
