Consumer confidence rises to highest level since 2009
Consumer confidence rose to its highest level since October 2009 this month according to figures released by GfK.
The research firm’s headline index increased by three points in August to -13. This means that the index has risen by 14 points in the last four months to mark the first time since 1982 that it has increased so substantially in a four month period.
GfK put the rise down to a steady flow of economic good news during the last few months showing a small amount of growth in the economy, despite recent official figures revealing a fall in UK living standards.
While the measure for consumers’ personal financial situation over the next 12 months held steady at 0 in August, the measure for general economic situation of the country over the next 12 months increased by eight points to -1.
In further good news, the climate for and the major purchase index rose five points this month to -16, which is 15 points higher than this time last year.
Nick Moon, managing director of Social Research at GfK, said: “As more and more official figures show that we are all worse off, with UK living standards at their lowest for a decade, the British public’s economic confidence continues to grow strongly – a conundrum of Alice in Wonderland proportions.
“The explanation probably lies in the fact that there has been a steady flow of economic good news over the past few months showing the economy growing – however anaemically – and even the double dip recession revealed by revised ONS figures never to have existed. With these figures receiving far more prominence than reports about declining real incomes, it is perhaps not surprising that people react to all this good news by declaring themselves more optimistic.”
The measure for ‘now is a good time to save’ stayed the same this month at -14, which is one point lower than August 2012.
