The results of an ECB survey of around 14,000 adult adult consumers from six euro area countries (Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Italy and the Netherlands) showed that consumer inflation expectations have risen significantly compared to February, despite the slowdown in inflation in the eurozone.
The ECB said median expectations for inflation over the next 12 months increased to 5% from 4.6% in February, while expectations for inflation three years ahead increased by 0.5% to 2.9%. This was the first increase in annual inflation expectations since the autumn of 2022, which will somewhat disappoint ECB policymakers who have aggressively tightened monetary policy to curb price increases. Overall, uncertainty about inflation expectations 12 months ahead reached its highest level since the start of the survey in April 2020.
The survey also showed that consumers expect their nominal income to grow by 1.3% over the next 12 months, compared with 1.2% in February. The perception of nominal spending growth over the previous 12 months increased to 7.1% from 6.6% in February. Meanwhile, expectations of nominal spending growth over the next 12 months increased to 4.1% from 3.9% in February.
Expectations of economic growth for the next 12 months decreased slightly - to -1.0% from -0.9% in February. In line with these lower expectations of economic growth, expectations for the unemployment rate for the 12 months ahead increased to 11.7% from 11.5% in February.