Ipsos: consumer moods brighten further in February

2010-02-28



The Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) stood at 93.1 points in February, an improvement of almost four points in relation to the previous month, according to research conducted by Ipsos. The Index is now back to its pre-crisis levels, following a steady recovery that started in April 2009 (in February 2009 the CCI suffered a record drop of 13 points to 71.4 and fell even further to an all-time low in March).
The latest gain was thanks mainly to a surge in confidence about the economic situation and outlook, with the component measuring assessments of economic climate up by 8 points to 84.6. Furthermore, accompanying research showed that worries about rising unemployment abated significantly, even though the registered jobless rate posted a sharp rise in January.
At the same time, willingness to buy, at 98.7 points, remained broadly unchanged in February, which according to Ipsos testifies to robust consumer sentiment. The research firm speculates that the monthly decline in retail sales observed in January may have been caused by other factors, such as tough weather conditions.
The CCI index is measured on a scale from 0 to 200. The research was carried out between 4 and 11 February 2010 on a random-representative sample of 1,012 Poles aged 15 and above.