Poll: Covid-19 sends Bulgaria’s consumer confidence plummeting
The State of Emergency in Bulgaria because of Covid-19 sent consumer confidence plummeting, according to a three-month poll by the National Statistical Institute (NSI), the results of which were released on June 10.
The survey covered February to April, and the results were released later than scheduled because of logistical difficulties caused by the Covid-19 situation.
The NSI said that the consumer confidence indicator was 17.4 percentage points lower in April than in January 2020.
Among people living in Bulgaria’s country areas, the indicator was down by 18.5 percentage points while it fell by 17 percentage points among city-dwellers.
There was pessimism among both rural and urban dwellers about the general economic situation in Bulgaria, with the indicator falling by close to 24 percentage points among those in country areas and close to 19 points among people living in cities.
People continued to hold that consumer prices had gone up in the past 12 months, while the indicator of those expecting inflation to rise had increased by 5.9 percentage points.
Expectations about unemployment were gloomier than in January, while people were pessimistic about being able to make savings in the coming 12 months.
People were more reserved than they had been in January about being able to make major purchases of durable goods in the next 12 months, the NSI said.
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