Informations rapides
24 April 2012
2012- n° 108
In April 2012, households’ confidence was almost stable Monthly consumer confidence survey - April 2012

In April 2012, households’ confidence about the economic situation was almost stable: the synthetic confidence index gained 1 point compared with March. Despite a 7 point increase since November 2011, it remained clearly below its long-term average.

Informations rapides
No 108
Paru le :Paru le24/04/2012
Prochaine parution le : 25/09/2024 at 08:45 - September 2024

In April 2012, households’ confidence about the economic situation was almost stable: the synthetic confidence index gained 1 point compared with March. Despite a 7 point increase since November 2011, it remained clearly below its long-term average.

Personal situation

Financial situation: increasing

In April, households appreciation of their past and future financial situation increased: the corresponding balances gained 2 points each, remaining however below their long-term averages.

Savings: sharply increasing

Households were markedly more numerous than in March to consider it opportune to save (+11 points). The corresponding balance thus reached its highest level since October 2007. So, they considered it a bit less opportune to make major purchases (-1 point).

Households’ opinion about their savings capacity in the next 12 months improved: the corresponding balance increased by 4 points, being thus slightly above its long-term average. Their opinion about their current savings capacity is almost stable (+1 point).

Graph1_englishConsumer synthetic index

Tab_engCONSUMER OPINION: synthetic index and opinion balances

Balance of responses, seasonally ajusted
CONSUMER OPINION: synthetic index and opinion balances (Balance of responses, seasonally ajusted)
2012
Average (1) Jan. Feb. Mar. April
Synthetic index (2) 100 82 82 87 88
Financial sit., past 12 m. –18 –29 –31 –28 –26
Financial sit., next 12 m. –3 –27 –25 –19 –17
Current saving capacity 12 19 19 16 17
Expected saving capacity –10 –13 –11 –12 –8
Savings intentions, next 12 m. 20 21 25 22 33
Major purchases intentions, next 12 m. –14 –29 –24 –24 –25
General economic sit., past 12 m. –41 –72 –75 –66 –65
General economic sit., next 12 m. –23 –56 –51 –40 –39
Unemployment, next 12 m. 34 65 63 58 60
Consumer prices, past 12 m. –17 12 14 10 11
Consumer prices, next 12 m. –34 –15 –14 –21 –22
  • (1) Average value between January 1987 and December 2011
  • (2) This indicator is normalised in such a way that its average equals 100 and standard error equals 10 over the estimation period (1987-2011).

Economic situation in France

General economic situation in France: slightly increasing

In April, balances corresponding to households’ opinion about the past and expected general economic situation in France gained 1 point each. They remained clearly below their long-term averages.

Future unemployment: expectations increasing

In April, households were a bit more numerous than in March to forecast an increase in unemployment. This balance of opinion rose by 6 points, remaining noticeably higher than its long-term average.

Inflation’s appreciation: almost stable

In April, the balance corresponding to households’opinion about past inflation gained 1 point and recovered its November 2011 level. The one corrsponding to inflation anticipations lost 1 point in April. It lost 11 points since November 2011 and reached its lowest level since November 2010.

Graph2_englishBalances on personnal financial situation and general economic situation

chomage_enHouseholds' unemployment expectations

prix_enHouseholds' perception of prices

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