The European consumer mood is currently dominated by the rising inflation and the high rates of the public debt, shows the Euro Climate study, conducted by GfK. Currently, Romania seems to be stabilizing at a very low level, shows the study. Here, the expectations regarding the economic situation increased since the middle of last year by about 34 points of the indicator, and currently stand at -37.3. The indicator’s value can vary in principle between -100 and 100 points.

In March, price expectations marked an increase in all European Union countries that have been studied, Romania registering an especially sharp rise, with the indicator currently being at 19.7 points, according to the GfK study. Mid- 2010, Romanians had to cope with a sales tax increase of 5 percentage points. Currently they are concerned about further increases in taxes and charges, so that that price expectations rose in March by 29.7 points.

Regarding consumers' expectations on income, Romania registered a slight increase, after in June 2010 this indicator had marked a negative record of -72.7 points. Today, it stabilizes at a very low level of -31.3 points. Romania also has a slight revival regarding the propensity to buy, the indicator being at -35.1 points.

This GfK study analyzes the development status of expected economic situations, prices and income and also the availability of consumer purchasing, in ten European countries, including Romania. These ten countries make up approximately 80 percent of the population in the 27 EU countries. More about the study here.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com