Romanians' confidence has reached the lowest rate in the past decade
Bucharest, July 7th, 2010 - In June, the population’s confidence index measured by the Consumer Confidence Barometer conducted by GfK, registered the greatest decline in the last ten years, reaching -79%, as compared to - 40% two years ago. This intense pessimism condition is mostly caused by the government austerity program that led to the general economic deterioration, damage experienced by over 90% of the population of the country. Romanians are quite pessimistic and when it comes to the future, 78% do not expect that the situation improves economically in the next period, on the contrary.
If in June 2009, three in ten of those surveyed believed that their family's financial situation will worsen in the next 12 months to a lesser or greater extent, one year later this percentage increased to more than double, 65% of them saying the same thing. Only 6% expect their situation to improve in the next year and 23% expect it to remain the same as at present. When comparing their present financial status with the one they had a year ago, 68% of the surveyed respondents state that it has deteriorated and only 5 percent live better than in 2009.
The financial situation is directly linked to the confidence in their job stability, which has declined significantly as compared to the years before the crisis. The majority (85%) anticipates an increase in unemployment and only 4% are optimistic in this regard.
For 8 out of 10 Romanians, the period we are going through is an obstacle against savings. Moreover, next year doesn’t seem to be a favorable one for putting money aside, either, more than 85% saying that they do not intend to do so, the main causes being the evolution of prices and unemployment. Over two thirds of Romanians estimate an inflation growth in 2010 and the first half of 2011, while a relatively similar percentage noted that last year brought higher prices for most products. To the other extreme, only 1 in 10 Romanians hopes to see lower prices in the next period.
In this context of deepening economic crisis, buying houses or cars does not at all enter under the investments priorities chapter for the Romanians. In fact, the reduced intention of buying these goods has remained steady over the past nine months, 91% and, respectively, 87% saying in April that it is very unlikely to buy a house or a car in the next two years. More than three quarters of the respondents did not consider it a good time for spending large amounts of money to renovate the house: buying a central heating system, new sanitary ware, etc.
The information comes from the Consumer Confidence Barometer, a study financed by the European Commission and conducted monthly by GfK Romania. The data are representative of Romania's population aged 15 and over, the sample being of 1,000 respondents each month.
GfK Romania
GfK Romania, founded in 1992, is an integral part of GfK Group. For 10 years, GfK Romania has been the number 1 market research institute in Romania. Its activities are structured into five segments: Custom Research - Ad Hoc qualitative and quantitative research for a wide range of industries (consumer goods, telecommunications and IT, finance, retail, tourism, automotive, industrial goods), Consumer Tracking – continuous research for consumer goods, Retail and Technology - continuous research for durable goods, Media - qualitative and quantitative research on the consumption of media products and Healthcare- qualitative and quantitative research in all medical fields.
Founded in 1934, as the first market research company in Germany, GfK Group has today more than 150 branches, in 100 countries, on five continents. GfK Group is one of the largest market research organizations in the world. For further information, visit the website: www.gfk-ro.com
