DE4CC0DE-5FC3-4494-BCBF-4D50B00366B5
Retail

German Consumer Morale Brightens Less Than Expected

By Dayeeta Das
Share this article
German Consumer Morale Brightens Less Than Expected

German consumer morale improved less than expected heading into October, a survey showed on Wednesday, putting a damper on hopes that household spending in Europe's largest economy will be strong enough to drive a quick recovery from the COVID-19 shock.

The GfK institute said its consumer sentiment index, based on a survey of around 2,000 Germans, edged up to -1.6 heading into October from an upwardly revised -1.7 in the previous month.

The reading missed a Reuters forecast for an increase to -1.0 and followed an unexpected drop in the previous month.

Consumer Climate

GfK consumer expert Rolf Buerkl said the German consumer climate had stabilised despite a recent rise in new coronavirus infections and the growing risk of another round of lockdown measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It seems as if the massive stimulus packages for consumers and companies are the right measures to help Germany get out of the worst recession in post-war history," Buerkl said.

ADVERTISEMENT

Since March, Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government has implemented an unprecedented array of stimulus measures, financed with record new borrowing of some €218 billion ($256.15 billion), to cushion the impact of the pandemic.

But Buerkl added that a further improvement in consumer morale was depending on the development of the pandemic and the labour market.

News by Reuters, edited by ESM. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.

Get the week's top grocery retail news

The most important stories from European grocery retail direct to your inbox every Thursday

Processing your request...

Thanks! please check your email to confirm your subscription.

By signing up you are agreeing to our terms & conditions and privacy policy. You can unsubscribe at any time.