Consumer spending higher

Domestic household consumption rose by 2.3 percent in September 2006 compared with the same month last year. Households spent 3.1 percent more on goods. They bought more durable consumer goods in particular. Spending on services increased by 1.6 percent on September 2005. The figures are corrected for price changes and differences in shopping day patterns.

Spending on durable consumer goods increased by 4.6 percent compared with September 2005. Durable consumer goods include for example, furniture, clothing, cars, TV-sets and washing machines. From the summer of 2005 on, spending on durable goods increased steadily. In the first nine months of 2006 households spent 7 percent more than in the same period last year. Such exuberant growth figures have not occurred since the economic boom at the end of the nineties.

Compared with the growth rate in preceding years, consumption growth in the first three quarters of 2006 was high. In this period, households spent 3 percent more on goods and services than in the first three quarters of 2005. However, the overall growth in the third quarter lags a little behind the growth rate in the first six months.

Figures on consumption are affected by the new health care system introduced in January 2006 and have had to be revised: monthly figures in 2006 are published  exclusive of health care. 

Domestic household consumption (volume)