Dutch Consumers More Pessimistic In December

(RTTNews) - Dutch consumers remained slightly more negative in December as both their opinions about the economic climate and willingness to buy weakened, data from the Central Bureau of Statistics showed on Friday.

The consumer confidence index dropped to -26 in December from -25 in November. Moreover, the indicator in December was well below the 20-year average of -10 points.

Among its components, the economic climate index stood at -45 in December versus -43 in November, indicating that households were more pessimistic about the economic situation in the past twelve months and the twelve-month outlook.

The indicator for willingness to buy also decreased somewhat to -13 in December from -12 in November. Nonetheless, households found the time for making major purchases slightly less unfavorable than in November.

The recovery of consumer confidence stalled during the year 2024, and consumers were hardly less negative at the end of 2024 than at the beginning, the agency said.