It its latest Consumer Climate Europe survey, the researcher said economic expectations in Romania fell to minus 34 points in December, from minus 33 points at the end of September.
“Economic expectations markedly fell in most countries of the European Union in the last quarter of 2011. The escalation of the debt crisis, loss of trust in Berlusconi’s Italian government and fears of a Europe-wide recession in 2012 have all contributed to major unease among consumers and on the markets,” GfK said.
It said the best indicator values are recorded in Germany (-0.9 points) and Spain (-3.6 points), while the worst in Portugal (-54.7 points), Greece (-58.6 points) and the Czech Republic (-63 points).
High unemployment rates and rising taxes affect income expectations across the EU, the survey noted. Germany is the only economy where consumers believe that wages will continue to rise in 2012. The country’s indicator is at 34 points, followed by Spain with minus 8.6 points and Austria with minus 19.7 points.
In Romania, the indicator inched up one point to minus 27 at the end of December.
However, Romanians’ willingness to buy increased to minus 28 points, from minus 38 points in September, GfK said.
It said purse strings are being held tightest in France (-29.8 points), Portugal (-44.1 points) and the United Kingdom (-54.8 points), while Austrian and German consumer are most prone to spend big in 2012.
GfK polled consumers in twelve EU countries, making up approximately 80% of the population in the EU27 bloc. The twelve states are Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and the UK.