Ireland: Consumer confidence falls in April to lowest level since October 2020
Consumer confidence came in at 57.7 in April, down from March’s 67.0. April’s result marked the weakest sentiment since October 2020. The fall in consumer confidence in February–April was the second sharpest in the survey’s 26 year history, second to only the collapse in sentiment following the spread of the Covid-19 virus in spring 2020.
The softer reading was due to an across-the-board decline in the index’s subcomponents. In a change from last month, subcomponents related to personal finances dropped most sharply amid soaring energy and food prices. Consumers revised down their spending plans, suggesting a potentially significant slowdown in private consumption in what remains of 2022. Meanwhile, consumers’ view of the current and future state of the economy also darkened, painting an increasingly gloomy view of consumers’ economic outlook.