Consumer confidence on the wane in Spain following IMF predictions

MADRID
CONSUMER confidence in Spain took a knock last month after global organisations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted that Spain is going to have a long, slow haul back to economic recovery, said the country's Official Credit Institute (ICO) yesterday.

The perception that people have of the present and future state of the economy, employment and their own personal situation suffered a setback in September, despite the previous six month period of steady growth in confidence. Low prices and a downturn in certain interest rates had given credence to the appearance of so-called “green shoots” of recovery, even though levels were well below boom-time figures.

The ICO confirmed yesterday that consumer confidence had fallen 9.2 points in September to settle at 70.3. The figure was calculated through the average of separately polled factors such as consumer expectations which fell by 10.8 points and assessment of the current situation which slipped by 7.7 points.