The state-run statistics agency said its Current Consumer Confidence Index, which describes current trends in personal consumption, went down by 1.9 points in January, slipping deeper into negative territory of “minus 29.2” points amid rising coronavirus cases.
Polish consumers surveyed this month were less positive about their financial prospects than a month earlier, and their evaluation of the economy as a whole also worsened from December, according to the Central Statistical Office.
Compared with January last year, the Current Consumer Confidence Index was 4.1 points lower, the statistical office said.
Meanwhile, the so-called Leading Consumer Confidence Index, which provides an insight into expected trends in personal consumption in the coming months, dropped 3.8 points in January from December, to “minus 23.5” points, the Central Statistical Office reported on Thursday.
It added that all components of that indicator declined, including how consumers evaluate their saving prospects and the future financial situation of their households. Respondents were also less positive than a month earlier about the future condition of the economy.
The Leading Consumer Confidence Index was 0.8 points lower in January than in the same month of 2021, the office reported.
Both consumer confidence indicators take values from -100 to +100. A positive value means that optimistic attitudes prevail among consumers, while a negative value indicates a prevalence of pessimistic views.
The latest consumer sentiment study was conducted between January 3 and 13.
Almost 79 percent of those surveyed said their responses were impacted by "the current epidemiological situation" in the country, the Central Statistical Office reported.
Poland's Health Minister Adam Niedzielski said this week that Poland had entered a fifth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic amid the spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus.
He warned that coronavirus infections in the country could soon hit record levels, peaking at about 60,000 in mid-February.
The Polish central bank’s Monetary Policy Council in early January raised key interest rates for the fourth time in as many months in a bid to combat surging prices.
Inflation in Poland stood at 8.6 percent in year-on-year terms in December, hitting the highest level in two decades, the country’s Central Statistical Office (GUS) said in a final estimate earlier this month.
In April last year, consumer sentiment in Poland plunged to its lowest level since 2004 amid the coronavirus pandemic.
(gs)
Source: PAP, stat.gov.pl