It its latest Consumer Climate Europe survey, the researcher said economic expectations in Romania rose at a steady pace for the past 12 months: the indicator has continuously climbed from its level of -71 points in June 2010 to a current -26.2 points.
“Consumer sentiment in many European Union countries is improving for the first time since the financial and economic crisis, despite the uncertainty created by discussions around the Greek rescue package,” Gfk said, noting that economic expectations recorded particularly strong growth in Spain, the UK, France and Poland.
GfK polled consumers in eleven EU countries, making up approximately 80% of the population in the EU27 bloc. The 11 states are Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain and the UK.
In many of the countries monitored in the survey, consumers’ price expectations have passed their peak and dropped in the second quarter, the researcher said.
In Romania, consumers are less pessimistic regarding further price increases over the coming months, with the indicator dropping to 15 points, from 20 points at the end of March.
Additionally, Romanians are more optimistic regarding their financial situation. The indicator increased to minus 24 points in June, from minus 31 end March.
Propensity to buy also improved from the past quarter, the surveyed showed. The indicator stood at minus 29 end June, from minus 35.1 a quarter earlier.