By Giulia Petroni
Consumer confidence in the eurozone further declined in September, signaling a deteriorating sentiment amid high inflation and rising interest rates.
The bloc’s confidence indicator–an aggregate measure of business and consumer confidence–stood at minus 17.8 for the eurozone in September, from minus 16 last month, data from the European Commission showed Thursday.
Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected the indicator to stand at minus 16.4.
Declines in September and August reversed gains from the previous four months, which had registered a gradual improvement in consumer confidence from a low of minus 28.7 in September 2022.
High inflation and rising interest rates continue to squeeze household budgets. Eurozone inflation in August was 5.2%, down from 5.3% in July but still well above the 2% target of the European Central Bank.
The central bank raised interest rates by a quarter percentage point to a record high of 4% last week, saying the increase might be enough to combat inflation but also leaving the door open to further increases.
Write to Giulia Petroni at [email protected]
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