Consumers remain positive

Consumer confidence in October did not change compared to September. Consumers remained positive. For the fifth month in a row the optimists outnumbered the pessimists.

Opinions about the economic climate hardly changed. Opinions about the economic climate for the next twelve months improved to the most positive level ever observed so far. Opinions about the economy of the last twelve months stayed the same.

The willingness to buy also hardly changed. Consumers were less positive about their own financial situation, but they considered this a better time for major purchases.

The European harmonised consumer confidence index is used to compare consumer confidence in the various member states of the European Union. In September this index reached 24 for the Netherlands. Last year Dutch consumer confidence rose a lot more than the EU average.

Consumer confidence, seasonally adjusted