Ireland: Consumer confidence falls to 10-month low in December
Consumer confidence fell to 74.9 in December from November’s 83.1. December’s result marked the worst performance since February. Consequently, the index remained entrenched below the 100-threshold, indicating that consumers were pessimistic.
The softer reading was due to an across-the-board decline in the index’s subsectors, amid rising Covid-19 cases, the arrival of the Omicron variant and higher cost-of-living pressures. Consumers’ view of the job market darkened most starkly, likely due to fears regarding the impact of fresh Covid-19 restrictions on employment. Nonetheless, consumers’ view of their personal financial situation for the 12 months ahead and the strength of their intention to make major purchases weakened less severely, suggesting that current weakening sentiment may not translate into such a sharp slump in spending.