According to the report from GfK, rising infection rates and the need to tighten the lockdown restrictions are weighing on the consumer climate in Germany. While the propensity to buy again increased moderately, economic and income expectations decreased significantly. As a result, GfK is forecasting a decrease of 8.8 points in consumer confidence for May 2021, down 2.7 points from April this year (revised from -6.1 points). 

Hopes for further easing of restrictions and a revival of consumption have been noticeably dampened. Above all, the tightening of contact restrictions left its mark on economic and income expectations in April. In the previous month, hopes were still high that consumer confidence — also supported by increasing vaccination numbers — could recover more quickly.

Rolf Bürkl, GfK consumer expert comments on the subject: “The recovery of the domestic economy will continue to lag due to the third wave. As in 2020, consumption will again not be a pillar of the economy this year. In the years before the pandemic, private consumer spending had still made an important contribution to the growth of the German economy.”