ECB: Consumer Inflation Expectations Down, Economic Growth Expectations Remain Unchanged

26 April 2024

By Aurėja Bobelytė – VILNIUS (Econostream) – The European Central Bank’s consumer expectations survey, released Friday, showed inflation expectations over the next 12 months down in March, while expectations for economic growth remained unchanged.

Median expectations of inflation over the next 12 months declined to 3.0% from 3.1%, reaching their lowest level since December 2021, according to the ECB.

Consumers’ expectations for inflation three years ahead remained unchanged at 2.5%, while their perception of inflation over the 12 months prior to the survey decreased for the sixth time in a row, reaching 5.0% after 5.5% in February.

According to the ECB, consumer expectations for nominal income growth fell to 1.3%, compared to 1.4% in February, while economic growth was seen at -1.1%, as before.

‘Consumers continued to expect the future unemployment rate to be only slightly higher than the perceived current unemployment rate (10.4%), implying a broadly stable labour market’, the ECB said.