Japan: Consumer confidence declines in February

Consumer sentiment fell from January’s 44.7 to 44.3 in February, the lowest print in six months. The reading was well below the 44.8 that market analysts had expected. The consumer confidence index measures consumers’ expectations for the next six months on a scale of 0–100, where 100 indicates that all respondents see their living standards improving.

February’s print mainly reflected that consumers had a more negative assessment about their job prospects. The overall livelihood category and consumers’ willingness to buy durable goods also worsened in February. On the upside, households were increasingly confident about future income growth. Moreover, households were less upbeat about prices rising in the year ahead. In particular, 81.3% of the respondents (down 1.1% from last month’s survey) expect that prices will trend higher.

Japan Private Consumption Forecast

FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists expect private consumption to rise 0.9% in 2018, which is unchanged from last month’s forecast. In 2019, the panel sees private consumption growing 1.0%.