Romanians anticipate a slight increase in wages and prices, with a favorable effect on the willingness to buy, and the elections campaign makes them more optimistic about economic performance, in contrast to the expectations of other Europeans, according to a survey conducted by GfK, quoted by Mediafax .
"In 2013, the Romanian economy grew by 3.5 percent. It is unlikely that this growth rate to continue in 2014. As always during election campaigns, consumers are becoming more optimistic, believing that over the next few months they will benefit from the increased economic performance. Standing at 3.7 points, expectations regarding the economic situation continue to be negative, but registering steady growth this year, " the results of the GfK Consumer Climate Europe says.
Romanians expectations on revenues have already risen well above the long term average of zero, standing at 5.3 points. Romanian consumers expect a slight increase in wages and prices. In June, the indicator reached a maximum value of 6.5 points, the highest value recorded since November 2008.
"These positive developments have favored the desire to purchase. The Indicator stood at 6.9 points in September, which represents an increase of 7 points over the third quarter. The Indicator increased by about 14 points from the last year "the release says.
On the other hand, European consumers are not as optimistic as they were in June about the future. In the last three months expectations on the state economy declined in almost all countries where the study is conducted, with substantial decreases in some areas. The upward trend shown on the income expectations and willingness to buy and it seems to have disappeared in many countries.
GfK consumer climate index for the EU (28 countries) currently stands at 4.2 points compared with 9.1 points in the previous quarter.
"The economic development in most countries of the European Union (EU) was significantly lower than anticipated in the spring by economic and government bodies. In some countries, economic performance actually began to fall again. This is due to very different reasons. Germany is no longer the driving force of economic growth in Europe, its economy is actually decreasing slightly by 0.2 percent in the second quarter. According to experts, growth will return in the third quarter, but remains relatively weak. While German consumers continue to shop with pleasure, export oriented sector of the economy was affected by weak external demand, " the authors of the survey said.
Also, two of the largest economies in Europe, France and Italy continue to have major structural problems. There is no indication so far that this will change in the coming months and governments will begin to introduce and, above all, to strictly implement major reforms.
"Another important aspect to consider is the significant conflicts that have recently dominated the international scene. These include tensions and economic sanctions between Russia and the EU, the Middle East war, the threat of the Islamic State (SI) and the political transition in Turkey. All these events contribute to a growing state of uncertainty among consumers. Companies and banks have therefore refrained from making investments and from lending. In turn, this has had a direct impact on the economic performance of different countries, " the study says.
The results of the GfK Consumer Climate Europe is based on a survey of consumers conducted at the request of the European Commission in all EU countries. They surveyed about 40,000 people per month, representing the adult population of the 28 EU countries.