We’re still upbeat despite economic slump

IRISH people have shown they are determined to have a very merry Christmas this year in spite of the pandemic hit to the economy, a survey has shown.

The Consumer Sentiment Index, a monthly measure of people’s attitudes towards the economy, showed ‘a significant and somewhat surprising rebound’, according to KBC Bank.

It bounced up to 65.5 this month from 52.6 in October, but was still below last November’s figure of 77.1.

KBC Bank chief economist Austin Hughes said: ‘There will be a lot of emphasis on getting Christmas right – whatever that means – and it will be different things for different types of consumers.

‘ People will spend, there will be nervousness, the pandemic has been hugely corrosive, it has affected those with the least capacity to deal with it.’

Mr Hughes added that although it is vitally important to counter threats to the immediate outlook and support sentiment and spending over the year-end, an economy ‘is not just for Christmas’.

He continued: ‘The key task must be to ensure that the policy framework develops in a manner that limits the longer-term threat to jobs and incomes as well as health outcomes.’

Mr Hughes said he believes that a recent slew of good news on a Covid-19 vaccine and the economy has helped improve people’s outlook.

‘At this juncture, it is not possible to be definitive as to the reasons for this improvement in confidence,’ he said.

‘However, a number of factors could have contributed to this result.’

Outlining the factors that could have caused this, Mr Hughes said the bounce ‘may owe something to a spate of strong economic releases and a large and diverse range of new job announcements through the survey period’.

He added: ‘It could be the case that consumers are focused ahead on the prospect of some Christmas light at the end of a pandemic-related tunnel.’