The survey results published by GfK Group showed that economic and income expectations improved significantly in April, while the propensity to buy increased moderately. Meanwhile, consumer confidence rose to -25.7 points in May from -29.3 points in April (revised from -29.5). This was the seventh consecutive increase in the index and the highest value since April 2022. Economists had expected the index to rise to -27.9 points.
"After a slight increase in the previous month, consumer sentiment is showing a clear improvement. However, the index is still below the level that existed before the coronavirus. Another positive aspect is that income expectations have increased for the seventh time in a row, returning for the first time to the level before the start of the war in Ukraine," GfK said.
The data showed that the index of consumer income expectations rose 13.6 points in April to -10.7 points. This is the highest value since February 2022. Meanwhile, the purchasing propensity index improved in April for the third time in a row - it rose to -13.1 points from -17 points in March. This is just 2.5 points below the corresponding figure for the previous year. Meanwhile, the index of economic expectations rose by 10.6 points to 14.3 points. Thus, economic sentiment is stabilizing in positive territory, above the long-term average value of the indicator, which is about zero. This actually represents an increase of more than 30 points compared to the same period of the previous year.