Austerity hurts consumers in Europe, Asians upbeat
A drop in consumer confidence in Europe amid worries about the region's debt crisis is holding back a recovery in global consumer sentiment and weighing on the broader economic outlook, a survey showed on Sunday.
Sentiment in euro zone states Spain, France and Italy fell between the first and second quarters as European countries drew up austerity measures to tackle debt amid fears of contagion from Greece's debt crisis, the survey by the New York-based Nielsen Company showed.
Global consumer confidence as a result was virtually unchanged in the second quarter from the previous three months despite rising optimism in Asia and Latin America as well as a slight uptick among consumers in the United States.
"While the global economy is in better shape than it was nine months ago, the ongoing European debt crisis is a major setback to the global economic recovery anticipated this year," said Venkatesh Bala, chief economist at the Cambridge Group, a unit of the Nielsen Group.
A recovery in consumer spending in the United States would depend on job creation.
Comments