Consumer climate in Germany recovers slightly from COVID-19 shock: study

Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-26 20:24:03|Editor: huaxia

BERLIN, May 26 (Xinhua) -- Consumer climate in Germany recovered slightly from "the shock triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic," according to a monthly study published by the German market research institute GfK on Tuesday.

After consumer sentiment had hit a new all-time low, revised to minus 23.1 points in May, GfK predicted an increase of 4.2 points to minus 18.9 points for June, which still is the second-lowest value that has ever been recorded for the GfK consumer climate in Germany.

"The gradual opening of many businesses has certainly contributed to the propensity to consume not having to take any further hits, and increases even slightly at the present time," said Rolf Buerkl, GfK consumer expert. "Nevertheless, uncertainty among consumers is high."

After decreasing twice in a row, economic expectations of Germans increased again in May, but the indicator was still significantly below the longtime year average of around zero points, according to GfK.

Germany's economy was being restarted quicker than assumed some weeks ago and consumers were also "increasingly hoping that a debacle on the job market can be avoided," GfK noted.

After taking an unprecedented, record loss in the previous month, income expectations increased slightly in May, according to Gfk.

"Anxiety over job losses remains high and has proven to be a key barrier to consumption at this time, alongside losses in income," said Buerkl, adding that retailers and manufacturers in Germany had to continue to adapt to this situation. Enditem

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