After an illustrious start to the year in the previous month, the consumer climate in Germany is facing initial headwinds. Both economic and income expecta-tions, as well as propensity to buy suffer losses. GfK forecasts a decrease in consumer climate for March this year of 0.2 points in comparison to the previous month to 10.8 points.

The political turbulence surrounding the formation of a stable, viable government in Berlin may have unsettled consumers, resulting in the atmosphere in February losing the gains it made in the previ-ous month. This places economic and income expectations, as well as propensity to buy, in the same position they were in at the end of 2017. Despite this setback, consumer optimism among German citizens remains high.