German consumer sentiment has fallen for the first time since September 2008 owing to rising petrol prices and forecasts for higher unemployment, the GfK economic research institute said today.
GfK's consumer index, the result of a survey of around 2,000 individuals, 'has experienced a light decline in autumn,' the institute said, slipping to 4 points in October from 4.2 points in September.
A drop in a sub-index of consumer readiness to make large purchases was largely responsible for the decrease and reflected concerns that higher oil and energy prices would eat away at disposable income, GfK noted.
Fears of rising unemployment are also strong, even though a widely feared upturn in the number of jobless has failed to occur so far.
Leading German economic institutes have even reduced their forecast for the number of unemployed in 2010 to 4.1 million from estimates in April of just under 5 million. Around 3.3 million people are now jobless in Europe's biggest economy.
At the same time, the end of Germany's cash-for-clunker's scheme that paid consumers €2,500 to scrap an old car and buy a new one has reduced the number of people shopping for cars, GfK noted.
Whether or nor consumption contributes to a slow and fragile German recovery will depend on unemployment in the coming months, it said.
On Friday, however, a key survey by the Ifo research institute showed that German business confidence had reached its highest level for more than a year.
