Germany Gfk Consumer Sentiment for February rose 0.2 pts to -6.7, better than expectation of -8.0. In January, economic expectations rose from 17.1 to 22.8. Income expectations rose from 6.9 to 16.9. Propensity to buy rose from 0.8 to 5.2.
“Despite rising incidences and inflation, consumers are once again showing some optimism at the beginning of the year. In particular, they are hoping for a slight alleviation in price trends, as in January 2022 the base effect resulting from the January 2021 reversal of the VAT cut will mitigate the inflation rate to some degree. Nevertheless, consumers price expectations remain significantly higher than in recent years.”, explains Rolf Bürkl, GfK consumer expert. “In addition, experts assume that the pandemic situation would ease in the spring, which will lead to a number of restrictions being removed.”
