Despite a gloomy economic mood, Germans seem to remain in a spending mood, with data released on Wednesday showing an uptick in consumer confidence.
The GfK market research institute said consumer confidence for the month of February stood at 10.8. That is a 0.3-point boost over January's revised level of 10.5.
Any figure over zero indicates that more respondents are optimistic than are pessimistic. The results are based on surveys of about 2,000 consumers.
GfK said the February increase did not only reflect a greater propensity to spend, but also a drop in plans to save.
Based on the strong start to the year, GfK said it is already forecasting a 1.5-per-cent increase in private consumption for the entire year.
Nonetheless, GfK noted, consumers are still worried about the economy. Survey results of broader economic expectations hit 10.7, down 3.4 points and the fourth decline in a row. The lowest value ever recorded by the GfK was 9.7, in February 2017.
"Consumers have not yet allowed the economic slowdown to dampen their propensity to buy," it wrote.
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