Consumers less pessimistic in December

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© Hollandse Hoogte / Luuk van der Lee Fotografie
In December, confidence among Dutch consumers has improved, as reported today by Statistics Netherlands (CBS). The consumer confidence indicator stands at -20, up from -26 in November. Consumer confidence reached its highest level after March 2020, when the first lockdown was introduced. Consumers are less pessimistic about the economic situation in particular.

 At -20, the consumer confidence indicator in December stands far below its long-term average over the past two decades (-7). The indicator reached an all-time high (36) in January 2000 and an all-time low (-41) in March 2013. 

Consumer confidence, seasonally adjusted
YearMonthbalance (average of the component questions)
2017January21
2017February22
2017March24
2017April26
2017May23
2017June23
2017July25
2017August26
2017September23
2017October23
2017November22
2017December25
2018January24
2018February23
2018March24
2018April25
2018May23
2018June23
2018July23
2018August21
2018September18
2018October15
2018November13
2018December9
2019January0
2019February-2
2019March -4
2019April-3
2019May-3
2019June0
2019July2
2019August0
2019September-2
2019October-1
2019November-2
2019December-2
2020January-3
2020February-2
2020March-2
2020April-22
2020May-31
2020June-27
2020July-26
2020August-29
2020September-28
2020October-30
2020November-26
2020December-20

Economic sentiment less negative

Consumers’ sentiment about the general economic situation has improved in December. This component indicator stands at -40, up from -53. Consumers are mainly less pessimistic about the economic situation in the next twelve months. Opinions on the economic situation over the past twelve months are only slightly less negative than in November. 

Willingness to buy improved marginally

Consumer’ willingness to buy stands at -6, up from -7 in November. Consumers are slightly more optimistic about their financial situation for the next twelve months. Furthermore, they find the time for large purchases somewhat less unfavourable. Opinions of consumers about the financial situation over the past twelve months remained the same.  

Over 10 percent of the respondents answered on or after Monday 14 December, when the Dutch government announced a full lockdown starting on Tuesday 15 December. Confidence among these respondents was hardly different from confidence among other respondents.

Coronavirus has had a significant impact on consumer confidence. In order to arrive at proper series estimates in terms of level and seasonal influences, CBS has made some adjustments to its time series model. This could have resulted in slightly reduced accuracy of the data.

Sources

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