Germany's consumer confidence is set to erode again in October, as households turned more cautious on spending amid persistently high inflation and little chance of improvement in the economic outlook, resulting in a sharp rise in their saving intentions, results of the monthly survey by the market research group GfK showed Wednesday.
The forward-looking GfK consumer confidence index for October fell to -26.5 from a revised -25.6 in September. Economists had forecast a score of -26.
Consumer confidence weakened for the second month in a row due to a sharp rise in the propensity to save sub-indicator.
The propensity-to-save indicator climbed to 8.0 points from 0.5 in the previous month, to mark the highest level since April 2011, when it was 8.8 points.
"This means that the chances of a recovery in consumer sentiment this year have probably fallen to zero," Rolf Burkl, GfK consumer expert, said.
"The reasons for this are a persistently high inflation rate due to sharply rising food and energy prices."
by Jyotsna V
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