Consumer confidence plunged 4.8 per cent last week, according to ANZ and Roy Morgan, falling to its lowest level since early September 2020 when Victoria was suffering its second wave of COVID-19.
Weekly inflation expectations rose 0.4 percentage points to 6 per cent as petrol prices continued to surge, taking the four-week moving average to 5.5 per cent.
‘Current financial conditions’ decreased by 5.4 per cent and ‘future financial conditions’ fell 4.6 per cent. Both indices were at their lowest levels since July and April 2020 respectively.
“Increasing petrol prices have had a sharp impact on households’ confidence for both ‘current’ and ‘future financial conditions’ with the two sub-indices dropping 10.3 per cent and 8.4 per cent respectively over the last two weeks,” said David Plank, ANZ’s head of Australian economics.
“The weakness in consumer confidence presents a growing near-term risk to the outlook for household spending.”
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