Good weather boosts consumer confidence
The warmer weather has brought about an improvement in consumer confidence, as it has largely mitigated the effects of high energy costs. This stems, among other things, from the economic sentiment survey for March conducted by the Institute for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE).
An improvement in expectations was also recorded in business, with the rise coming mainly from industry and services.
In particular, according to what IOBE announced on Tuesday, the consumer confidence index strengthened slightly in March and reached -44.7 points, compared to -47.2 points in February, returning to the levels of October 2023.
That improvement is related to the mild strengthening of positive expectations for the economic situation of the country and of households, while the improvement in intentions to make major purchases and also to save is much more noticeable. Also of particular interest is the fact that fewer households (52% compared to 57% in February) predict a rise in prices. This, of course, does not mean that inflation will not continue to be a significant problem in the near future.
Overall, the economic sentiment index, which includes consumer confidence, improved in March 2024 as it stood at 108.4 points, from 104.9 points in February.
The industrial business confidence index rose sharply in March to 111.9 points from 101.6 in the previous month, as the negative balance in orders eased and expectations for output in the coming months improved. It is worth noting that the uncertainty about the economic environment is weakening, as in the question regarding the ease of predicting the future development of the business, in March 42% of businesses considered that it is difficult or relatively difficult to predict it, compared to 50% in February.
The service sector expectations index rose slightly to 125.6 from 121.1 in February. This increase is strongly related to the strengthening of the index of business expectations in hotels-restaurants-travel agencies, which stood at 134.9 points, from 120.6 points in February, in view of the start of the tourist season.
On the contrary, the indicators of business expectations in retail trade and in construction followed a downward course.
