Global consumer confidence plunges to new lows on inflation spike

Consumers in rich countries have never been more glum as inflation takes its toll on household balance sheets.

Confidence in Germany, Europe’s economic powerhouse, dropped to minus 27.4 this month, the lowest level since record began, GfK said today.

The figures come as another survey published by GfK last Friday revealed UK consumer confidence has also tumbled to its lowest level since records began in the 1970s.

Soaring inflation, running at a four decade high of 9.1 per cent in the UK and 8.1 per cent in the Eurozone, the steepest level since the creation of the euro in 1999, is eating into households’ living standards and souring their optimism.

Rising prices are threatening to tip some of the world’s biggest economies into recessions this year. 

S&P Global yesterday said the UK economy will fall into a technical recession – two consecutive quarters of contraction – this year.

Across the pond, US consumer confidence dropped to 98.7 in July, the weakest reading in nearly 18 months. A separate survey last week said it is at its lowest ever.