Expert: “Difficult times are ahead”
The mood of consumers in Germany collapsed in the tough lockdown. In their consumer climate barometer published on Wednesday, the German GfK market researchers forecast a fall of 8.1 to minus 15.6 points for February. The mood was last worse in June 2020. Economists surveyed by Reuters had only expected a value of minus 7.9 points.
“The closure of restaurants and large parts of the retail trade in mid-December 2020 hit the propensity to consume just as hard as the first lockdown in the spring of last year,” said GfK expert Rolf Bürkl.
This is particularly evident in the willingness of citizens to make larger purchases such as furniture, computers or cars: According to GfK, the corresponding barometer literally collapsed in January – by 36.6 points to zero. The recently decided extension of the tough measures for the lockdown also dwindled hopes for a rapid improvement in consumer mood, said the GfK expert on the monthly survey of around 2,000 consumers.
With regard to the consumer climate, “difficult times are ahead” in the first quarter of this year, warned Bürkl. For a sustainable recovery, it is necessary that the number of infections declined more than before so that the measures can be noticeably relaxed. The recovery that many hoped for this year will still be a while in coming.
