Irish consumer sentiment stabilised in March, suggesting that confidence was remaining reasonably stable in the run-up to the outbreak of war.
The Irish data contrasted with much gloomier figures for the 12-nation euro zone. The European Commission reported yesterday that economic confidence in the euro zone fell last month to its lowest level in six years.
The latest Irish survey from the Economic and Social Research Institute and IIB Bank showed that the overall consumer sentiment index was 62.8 in March, just slightly up from 62.3 per cent in February.
The March index essentially showed a "steady" picture, according to IIB. "On the whole, these are an encouraging set of numbers as they suggest that Irish consumer sentiment and spending should be able to weather an increasingly difficult global economic and political market," the bank says.
However, it warns that there were "apparently inconsistent signals in the answers to some questions", probably reflecting the global economic uncertainty. This "raises the possibility" of significant changes in the index in the months ahead, the bank says. The survey was completed between March 3rd and 14th, before the outbreak of the war.
IIB believes that consumer spending and sentiment remain "resilient" albeit at levels well below those of the boom years. The three-month moving average of the index was 63.2 last month, down from 87.6 in March 2002.
Meanwhile, the EU Commission figures showed euro-zone economic sentiment fell to a six-year low in March. The European Commission's business and consumer survey, based on data that were mostly collected by national member-states before the start of US-led attacks on Iraq, showed sentiment fell to 97.8 from February's revised 98.4.
It was the indicator's biggest drop since the September 11th air attacks and came as consumer confidence fell more than expected to plumb a nine-year low of minus 21 from minus 19 in February. Business confidence hit minus 12, its lowest since September 2002, from minus 11.
"Such a drop in confidence has not been observed since the events of 11th September 2001," the Commission said.
