ZAGREB, July 30, 2019 – The Consumer Confidence Index continued to rise in June, reaching an all-time high since consumer expectations are measured, data from the Croatian National Bank (HNB) shows.
The increase in optimism in the second quarter of this year compared with the first quarter reflected more favourable movements of all three composite indices.
Compared with May, the Consumer Expectations Index, which reflects the expectations of consumers for the next 12 months with regard to the financial situation of their household and the general economic situation in Croatia, returned to positive territory, from -1.6 to 1.8, rising by 3.4 percentage points year on year.
The Consumer Confidence Index was -2.8, its historically highest level, increasing by 1.3 percentage points from May and by as much as 6.4 percentage points from June 2018. It indicated improved expectations about the financial situation of households in the next 12 months, improved expectations about the economic situation in the country in the next 12 months and improved expectations about purchases of durable goods in the next 12 months compared with the previous 12 months.
The Consumer Sentiment Index, which reveals changes in the financial situation of households in the last 12 months, expectations about the economic situation in the country and expectations in terms of whether it is the right time to purchase durable goods, rose by 10.6 percentage points year on year and by 9.4 percentage points month on month.
Analysts at Raiffeisenbank Austria (RBA) expect the positive movements of the three indices to have a positive impact on retail trade. The National Bureau of Statistics is due to release data on retail sales in June on Tuesday.
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