German consumer sentiment has fallen for the third month running, with shoppers particularly wary of making large purchases, the GfK economic research institute said yesterday.
GfK’s consumer index, the result of a survey of some 2,000 people, suggested that “the consumer climate in Germany will cool slightly at the beginning of the New Year,” slipping to 3.3 points for January from a revised 3.6 points this month.
GfK makes projections for the month to come based on the data it obtains.
The reason for the decline was a sharp drop in a sub-index which measures intentions to make major purchases, itself the result of expectations that energy prices would begin to rise, the institute said.
OPTIMISM
Two other sub-indices, one which measures expectations of personal revenues and another of the economy in general, rose owing to better-than-expected employment data and measures to ease taxes on families.
“Since the labor market has proven to be very robust this autumn, consumers’ economic expectations have recovered a little and recorded a slight increase in December,” GfK said.
In addition, German Chancellor Angela Merkel got a tax relief package worth 8.5 billion euros (US$12.2 billion) through parliament last week despite serious reservations about the country’s shaky public finances.
The package will ease the tax burden on families with children.
On Monday, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the government would unveil a major savings plan by the middle of next year to put the country back on the road to fiscal health.
Schaeuble told the popular daily Bild the savings package would begin whipping the country’s public finances back into shape after Berlin approved massive stimulus plans this year to pull Germany out of recession.
Meanwhile, Sweden’s consumer confidence index showed a reading of 8.8 this month, the Stockholm-based National Institute of Economic Research said on its Web site yesterday.
The median estimate of seven economists in a Bloomberg survey was for a reading of 11.8.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2