BERLIN (Reuters) – German consumer sentiment is expected to stabilize at a low level in March as households face great uncertainty due to continued rising prices and a weaker economic outlook, a survey showed on Tuesday.
The consumer sentiment index, published by the GfK institute and the Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions (NIM), increased slightly to -29.0, compared to a revision to -29.6 for the month of February, in line with the consensus of analysts polled by Reuters.
“Uncertainty is high among consumers. In addition to constantly rising prices, weaker economic forecasts are probably another important uncertainty factor,” said Rolf Buerkl, expert at NIM.
The German government recently reduced its economic growth forecast for this year to just 0.2%, down from 1.3% previously.
“For now, Germany still has to wait for economic recovery,” he said, implying that there will be no rapid recovery in consumer spending in the short term.
Expectations for rising incomes rose to their highest value since February 2022, but consumers’ willingness to buy remained extremely low as households remained cautious.
(Editor Miranda Murray, Corentin Chappron, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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