Research conducted in April has shown that like the coronavirus itself, the economic fallout is impacting some consumers much more severely than others.
The capacity of Irish consumers to weather the current financial storm varies markedly, the latest KBC Bank April Consumer Sentiment survey showed.
Roughly one in eight of the consumers surveyed said that they could handle a financial emergency costing €1,000 from current income, whereas almost as many would be completely unable to finance such a difficulty through any means.
"This result suggests while the 'macro' impact of the current crisis is broadly felt, the severity of 'micro' impacts varies markedly across households," the analysis compiled by Austin Hughes and Shawn Britton showed.
The survey also highlighted that while much of the discussion in terms of the direct demographic impact of the coronavirus focusses towards either end of the age spectrum, the main economic and financial impact is currently being felt by those in the 35-54 age group.
Financial Emergency
Other key findings from the analysis showed that just under half would weather a financial emergency either by using their current income (12% of consumers) or by dipping into their existing savings (33%).
About one in four consumers (27%) surveyed said would borrow to pay for an unexpected emergency with about a third of these using a credit card for that purpose.
© 2020 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. Click sign-up to subscribe to Checkout.
