Consumer confidence almost unchanged

Consumer confidence shows only a very small change in May. Consumers are clearly less negative about purchases of expensive durable goods, which caused a slight rise in the willingness to buy. Consumer confidence has retained the upward trend of recent months in May.

Consumer opinions on whether it is a good time to spend money on expensive durable goods improved substantially this month. In the last few months these opinions had already become more positive. Because of this improved opinion, willingness to buy has risen slightly. Consumers have hardly changed their minds at all about the economic climate.

Despite the slight rise in May, the improvement of willingness to buy lags behind the improvement of the opinions on the economic climate. Consumers’ opinions on the economic climate have improved substantially since September 2005. Willingness to buy has also improved in this period but by much less. Therefore, it is mainly the much more positive view of the economic situation that has boosted consumer confidence for nine months now.

Consumer confidence, seasonally adjusted