Household morale fell a little in July, after its sharp rise in June, illustrating in particular households at the time of a new resumption of the Covid-19 epidemic, according to data published on Wednesday by INSEE.
The indicator which reflects the confidence of households in the economic situation lost 2 points in July, to 101 points, remaining however above its long-term average which is 100, detailed the National Institute of Statistics.
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This decline is notably linked to a much lower proportion of households believing in July that it is opportune to make major purchases (-5 points). More households are also worried about their future financial situation, although the balance of opinion between those who see their financial situation deteriorating in the future and those who consider the opposite remains above its long-term average. For the third consecutive month, the proportion of households who consider it appropriate to save has decreased (-4 points), but here again the indicator remains above its long-term average.
Beyond their personal situation, households are less optimistic about the economic situation in France. They are less likely to think that the standard of living will improve in the next twelve months and are more worried about an increase in unemployment. Finally, households are “
much more numerous
” to have felt high inflation during the last twelve months (+14 points) and are “
a little more numerous
” to anticipate an increase in inflation in the next twelve months (+3 points), underlines INSEE.
Last week, INSEE also mentioned a drop in the confidence of business leaders in July, in particular in the retail sector, which bore witness to a slightly less favorable outlook for activity. This indicator however still remains at a "
very high level
" in July, noted INSEE.