Poll finds consumer confidence in Bulgaria slightly down

A regular three-monthly poll by the National Statistical Institute (NSI), the results of which were released on February 9, has found a slight drop in consumer confidence in Bulgaria.

As The Sofia Globe reported previously, consumer confidence dropped by 7.3 percentage points in January 2025, rose by 3.1 percentage points in April, dropped by 4.7 percentage points in July and dropped again, by four percentage points, in October.

The NSI said that in January 2026, the total consumer confidence indicator decreased by 0.8 percentage points compared with October 2025, which was entirely because of decreased confidence among the urban population.

The total assessment of the development of the economic situation in the country over the past 12 months remained substantially unchanged compared to the previous survey.

However, the forecasts over the next 12 months were slightly more favourable, as a result of which the balance indicator was up by 2.2 percentage points.

While people living in villages were less pessimistic about the financial situation of their households, people living in cities were more negative than they had been three months earlier.

At the same time, both the urban and rural populations were more unfavourable in their forecasts about the next 12 months.

Consumers continue to consider that over the past 12 months there had been an increase of consumer prices, but at a lower rate, while at the same time they did not expect inflation to increase as much as they did previously.

Forecasts for unemployment in Bulgaria over the next 12 months were shifting towards more moderate opinions, the NSI said.

The poll found that consumers were more reserved in their intentions to make major purchases of durable goods over the next 12 months, while their attitude to spending on home improvements and buying a car over the next 12 months was also negative.

(Photo: Carsten Gueth)