Berlin, Mar. 29, (dpa-AFX/GNA) - Confidence amongst German consumers is slowly rising, despite growing fears of a recession, said a report by market research group GfK on Wednesday.
German consumer morale increased for the sixth consecutive month, with the consumer confidence index for April climbing to -29.5 from -30.6 in March, said Gfk, who is based in Nuremberg, southern Germany.
The survey carried out between March 2 and 13 showed a mixed picture. Although consumer sentiment continued its recovery, the momentum was noticeably slower than in the previous months.
Within the three sub-components of consumer confidence, income expectations strengthened in March while the propensity to buy hardly changed.
By contrast, economic expectations suffered a setback after four consecutive months of increase.
At -24.3, the income expectations index gained three points to hit a 10-month high in March.
Even though income expectations are increasing, the number is still very low.
Rolf Burkl, GfK consumer expert, said falling energy prices have boosted income prospects of households, but that inflation will remain high.
The propensity to buy gained only 0.3 points to -17.0 in March. This signals uncertainty among consumers, Gfk said.
After four consecutive increases, the economic expectations index dropped 2.3 points to 3.7 in March, although remaining above its long-term average of around zero.
Gross domestic product is likely to drop slightly in the first quarter after a 0.4 percentage point drops a quarter ago, GfK said. However, the experts are currently projecting the largest euro area’s economy to recover somewhat in the second half of the year, the research group added.
GNA