Consumer confidence lowest in a year

CONSUMER confidence has dropped to its weakest level in more than a year.

Higher fuel bills, rising rents and property price inflation are thought to be weighing on sentiment.

The pull-back also reflects growing global risks and lack of domestic feel-good factor.

June’s reading points to a guardedly positive, if more cautious, mood among consumers. The KBC Bank/ESRI Irish consumer sentiment index fell to 102.1 in June from 106.7 in May, the second-largest monthly decline in the past 20 months.

KBC economist Austin Hughes said the fall in the index doesn’t suggest the average consumer has experienced any dramatic worsening in their circumstances.