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IRISH CONSUMERS ARE feeling “upbeat”, according to a consumer sentiment index released today.
The KBC Bank/ESRI Consumer Sentiment index showed that Ireland was at its best level since May 2007.
The January sales are seen as the big boost for the month as Ireland’s consumer sentiment rose to 84.6 per cent in January from 79.8 per cent in December.
However, the report was quick to point out that “it would not be correct to suggest that conditions for Irish consumers are now back to normal”, instead it’s believed that “consumers are gradually recovering from the extreme difficulties of recent years”.
As shown in the diagram below, the index is now in line with the historic average of the eighteen-year series of 85.1:
Ireland’s consumer sentiment in January mirrored those in the US, the UK and the Euro area.
Household Spending
The report showed that over the past year, views in relation to the trend in household finances “worsened mildly”, however expectations for family finances over the next year “improved marginally”.
This was explained as “consumers are sensing some positive developments that may eventually impact on their personal finances but the persistence of clear negative balances argue that worries about spending power continue to dominate thinking on this issue”.
Looking ahead
Just over half of those questioned feel the Irish economy will improve in the coming year, showing a “marked change” compared with concern expressed through recent years.
“On average, through the period 2008-2013, the survey found that just one in five consumers expected the Irish economy would improve in the following 12 months.”
The report also showed that:
There was a further improvement in thinking on the jobs market last month.
However, the positive statements at the end of 2013 from the IDA and Enterprise Ireland are seen as possible reasons for this. New job opportunities and a drop in the live register were reported on at that time.
The report states that “the step-up in spending plans signalled in the January sentiment survey may exaggerate the likely degree of growth in this area”.
There could be a significant retracement of last month’s gains in the February survey.
propaganda yet again
May is coming
Pure bank backed publicity to try and fool us !
Its the world over, honestly, I moan on this but whats the point if you dont stand up and make a difference. I was in the phillipines for a short break recently, Us Irish really aren’t that hard up in comparison to the way people there live. You are right though,we’re slaves to consumerism, people need to wake up.
Hate spending money but I do it multiple times a day
Ahh a “consumer sentiment index” compiled by KBC bank.
That wouldn’t be the same KBC bank that drove Fiachra Daly from Priory Hall over the edge, would it?
Or the same KBC bank that sold
100%,
interest only,
10x times income,
mortgages during the boom?
leading to them having to be bailed out by the Belgian taxpayer to the tune of billions.
The same KBC bank that has approx one third of its mortgage customers in arrears?
The one and only “Bank of You” KBC Bank?
Me must be really fcucked then?
Hey KBC.
Can the 10′s of thousands of KBC bank customers in arrears and negative equity pay off their mortgages with “upbeat consumer sentiment” ??
Where’s your spin doctor “Economist” Austin Hughes these days?
Has he gotten too afraid to put his name to this BS propaganda anymore?
@KBC
In a blink of an eye you’ll shut shop just like
First Active
ACC
BOSI
Halifax
Post Bank
Start
GE Money
MBNA
etc
Stop trying to foist the bill for your zombie loans and greedy mistakes onto the Irish taxpayer.
Clear Off!
Wait for the water charges arrive. Another kick in the nuts for families.
Just got my first job bridge top up today… Spend spend spend….!
Correction: a consumer sentiment index compiled by KBC Bank AND THE ESRI
The same ESRI who foresaw the crash 8 years before it happened
So the ESRI are doing duets with failed, dishonest bankers these days?
Was Snoop Dogg not available?
Nope the ERSI that’s been calling things wrong for donkey’s years and even in 2007 was forecasting that there wouldn’t be a property crash. http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2011/09/07/esri-has-been-getting-its-forecasts-wrong-for-years
I would spend more money too ……if I had it to spend. I must be living in a different country !!
Get a job or a consultancy with Irish water sure they have money to throw away!!
Being over consumed with bullsh1t is my daily difficulty ..
Well that is the daily propaganda quota filled at least.
The fact is that “things” will never be normal again. As long as we are shackled to debt that many of us did not create, we are slaves to the system
I would gladly spend money if someone would give me some!
Yes – we are back to Normal – FFS get real – and stop this BS
I must say i’m happy to be a consumer, spending lots of money on stuff I don’t need :)
Not sure what the point of this is, there is a survivor bias here and doesnt take into account the everyone that was forced to emigrate. Based on energy consumption Ireland is where it was in 1999 yet “we” have debts up to the wazoo
Yeah it seemed a bit pointless to me too. ‘Feelings’ don’t count for much in the economy, they’ll arguably reduced panicked saving, but you need cash in your pocket to be able to spend at the end of the day. I might feel like a millionaire, doesn’t mean I am one.
Anyone that believes this ECB backed propaganda deserves to have their money taken from them when the bank bail-ins start.
I’d like to think we are on an economic roll but you only have to look at the “shop/unit/factory/ office ” to let sign’s all over the country.There is still no real government incentive’s to keep existing business’s open.The Irish people have been conned by them, expect more propaganda and “good new’s “storie’s until the Local election’s on May 23rd.
Completely unrelated, but I’m going to have a fit if I don’t say it. Please, for the love of all that is holy, will you stop inserting the possessive “s” onto the ends of words when a plural “s” is what is needed. The words you are looking for are: “signs”, “incentives”, “businesses”, “news”, “stories”, “elections”. Also, correct punctuation would be nice too.
No i’ll continue posting the same way.The message’s within the post’s are more important than bowing to the grammer police!
Please Brian,Please get a life
Fair enough, Dave. But just remember: the message within is affected by the structure. Oh, and it’s not grammar (you do have a few of those too, but I didn’t point those out) that’s your problem. Your problem is failing to progress beyond the spelling abilities of an 8-year-old.
You need a new hobby brian. Or therapy! You have just green thumbed your own comment’s several time’s. It must have taken you day’s to make up all your different journal.ie account’s! The country is still on it’s knee’s and you worry about my punctuation.
Nope. I don’t use the thumbs facility, either red or green. I see it as pointless, especially here where the thumbs aren’t based on the content of the message a lot of the time, but rather by how the author comes across, or simply because some people are moronic. I’ve seen thumbs up for “gays are evil” and thumbs down when someone expresses sympathy over a tragic incident. Also, I don’t have multiple accounts. Keeping track of passwords for my own accounts (email, Facebook, VK, LinkedIn, etc.) is hard enough without having other useless accounts to watch for too. However, seeing as how you seem to be so sure that I have multiple accounts, I’d like you to point them out to me.
Your nukin fut’s brian! Id say you’ll be awake half the night trying to erase that mispelling from your o.c.d head!
Misspellings are one thing. Being unable to read or write is quite another. You complain about the country being on its knees? One way to improve the country is by having an educated workforce. That means, at the very least, being able to read and write. I’m still awaiting your answer as to the proof of my multiple accounts. (Again, I’m not entirely sure why you feel it necessary to lie and make false allegations on a public forum).
Aah yes more retail therapy to cheer us all up. What harm could it do?
I spend money I don’t have on records once a month, I mean fortnight, I mean…..
The journal really needs to compile a Whinge Index, as an indicator of the economy. Number of winges / total number of comments in an economic or housing article.
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