ANZ-Roy Morgan survey shows big fall in consumer confidence, rise in inflation expectations

Consumer confidence tumbled this month and inflation expectations surged, according to the latest ANZ-Roy Morgan NZ Consumer Confidence Survey.

The survey shows consumer confidence down to 91.3 in March from 100.1 in February. 

Two-year ahead inflation expectations jumped one percentage point to 5.7%.

And the proportion of households thinking it’s a good time to buy a major household item dropped 10 points to -14, where it was in October.

“The conflict in the Middle East has created significant uncertainty for the economic outlook and is hitting people in the back pocket already. Confidence impacts are likely to exacerbate the impact on growth, but it is entirely reasonable that both firms and households think twice when making spending decisions in case things take a marked turn for the worse. The sharp rise in inflation expectations is also unsurprising. This is a challenging time for many,” the survey says.

The full report is here.