News from the NOS•
Consumer confidence has never been as low as in the past couple of months. The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) reports. The main cause is high inflation.
More than sixty percent of consumers said they don’t think it’s a good idea to shop big right now. This leads to a serious dent in confidence.
Statistics Netherlands examines both the economy as a whole and the individual situation of consumers. Consumers are pessimistic about both. Inflation creates a lot of uncertainty, including about how much prices will rise.
Yet now there is no economic crisis. Consumption has also not decreased in recent months. The research firm says it usually takes several quarters for consumer confidence to be reflected in sales figures.
But ‘a little bit worse’
One difference from the 2013 financial crisis is that consumers indicated that their situation has gotten “a little worse” rather than “a lot worse”. There are more pessimistic consumers, but the number opting for “much worse” is not as high as in 2013.
According to Statistics Netherlands, this may be due to the fact that people are less insecure about their jobs due to the shortage in the labor market.
NOS
