Consumer Sentiment Improves in December

The overall KBC Ireland/ESRI Consumer Sentiment Index increased in December to 90.5 compared to 85.3 in November. The 3-month moving average fell marginally to 87.1 in December from 87.9 in the previous month.

Commenting on the results Ciara Morley, ESRI, said

  • “Of the five components in the Consumer Sentiment Index all but one has shown improvements in December. The most notable increase is in how consumers view their future household finances for the next 12 months with a 12 per cent rise over November.”
  • “While there has been a slight fall in consumers’ perception of unemployment levels for the next 12 months the same component is up by just over 16 per cent compared to December 2013. In general, the year-on-year changes in each of the five components of the Index continue to indicate a positive consumer outlook.
  • “The index of consumer expectations increased in December to 83.8 from 78.4 last month while the index of current economic conditions also shows signs of improvement increasing from 95.7 in November to 100.4 in December.”