The survey results published by GfK Group and the Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions (NIM) showed that the forecast consumer sentiment index for March rose to -29.0 points, as expected, from -29.6 points in February (revised from -29.7 points).
“There is great uncertainty among consumers. In addition to the constantly rising prices, the weaker economic forecasts for the German economy this year are likely to be another important reason for this. Recently, the outlook for the German economy has been rated increasingly pessimistic. The German government also reduced its growth forecast for 2024 to just 0.2%. For the time being, Germany must continue to wait for an economic recovery,” said Rolf Bürkl, consumer expert at NIM. “
GfK said that in February willingness to save rose by 3.4 points to 17.4 points (the highest value since June 2008), while income expectations jumped by 15.2 points to -4.8 points (the highest value since February 2022), as significant income and pension increases combined with lower price increases lead to visible real income growth. However, the willingness to buy does not profit from increased income optimism - the indicator remains virtually unchanged with -15.0 points. This means that the willingness to buy remains at an extremely low level, which has already been recorded since mid-2022. Meanwhile, the economic expectations indicator rose by 0.2 points, to -6.4 points.