According to the report from GfK Group, German consumer sentiment shows a mixed picture with little change in February. While economic expectations gained slightly, income expectations and propensity to buy suffered moderate losses. As a result, GfK has forecast a figure of 9.8 points for March 2020, 0.1 points lower than February's level (9.9 points).

Moderate losses for income expectations and propensity to buy have resulted in a slight decline for the German consumer climate.

"The consumer climate has been unable to continue the previous month's positive trend. The spread of the coronavirus has undoubtedly contributed to uncertainty among consumers," explains Rolf Bürkl, consumer expert at GfK. "A decline or halt in production in companies in China triggered by the virus could affect production in Germany as well, or even cause it to come to a complete standstill. This could result in reduced working hours and possibly reductions in staff. And this would not be of benefit to consumer confidence."

GfK confirmed its forecast from the previous month, according to which private consumption will increase in real terms by about one percent this year.