Germany’s economic confidence falls

by Richard Kilner

Story link: Germany’s economic confidence falls

April saw Germany’s ZEW economic sentiment indicator suffer a substantial fall, slumping from -32 in March to -40.7 this month.

The indicator is based upon a survey of industry analysts and investors, and has typically had an average value of 30.

A survey conducted by Reuters forecast a small improvement to -29.0, instead of which the ZEW has defied expectations and fallen still further.

Also in Germany, inflation rose to 3.2% over the course of March, and is nearing it’s highest level in recent times of 3.3%.

Rising prices have are beginning to have an effect upon consumer spending habits, with recent retail figures showing a substantial decline in February compared to the previous year.