Bank of Ireland’s Economic Pulse has revealed that Irish consumer sentiment has fallen by 2.7 points on October’s index.
November’s Economic Pulse stands at 89.9, which is also 0.6 points lower than a year ago.
It claims that Brexit developments have dominated the news, which has driven consumer and business sentiment down this month.
It added that the Brexit breakthrough came at the end of the November survey period.
Brexit Blow
“With the Brexit negotiation entering the endgame, the Economic Pulse headed south this month and posted its lowest reading of 2018 to date,” Dr. Loretta O’Sullivan, group chief economist at Bank of Ireland, said.
The consumer pulse was broadly unchanged, only falling by 0.5 points from October. Previous reports show that while Brexit is at the forefront of everyone’s minds, Irish consumers are more optimistic about potential growth after the UK’s departure.
Brexit could not stop the festive mood, with spending expected to rise in the coming months, boosted by Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.
According to the report, one in five people indicated that they indent to spend more on presents this year compared to last year, highlighting a well-documented increase on household spending on the back of higher employment rates.
Just over half intend to spend the same.
72% of people said that they are likely to save well over the next 12 months.
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
