German consumer confidence is set to fall amid global economic uncertainty and the fallout from the eurozone debt crisis, a survey released Friday showed. The Nuremberg-based GfK research group said its forward-looking consumer confidence index will slide for the second consecutive month to 5.6 points in January. This compares with a downwardly revised reading for December of 5.8, dpa reported. "As a result of the international economic headwind, German consumers are still feeling uncertain at the end of the year," the GfK said releasing the monthly index. Analysts had expected the survey's January reading would remain unchanged at the original December of 5.9. Releasing the survey, the GfK warned that unless a sustainable solution is found for the European debt crisis "then consumption will also be facing a difficult year ahead." While income expectations increased slightly, both consumers' economic expectations and their willingness to buy dropped, the survey found. Recent higher wage settlements and a fall in inflationary pressures meant the index's income expectations rose to 21.2 in December from 17.8 in November. But the current downbeat economic mood in Europe meant the index's gauge measuring economic expectations fell to minus 17.9 in December from minus 14.6 in November. The sub-index measuring willingness to buy fell to 20.1 this month from 29.4. While GfK's overall consumer climate index is for the month ahead, its sub-indexes refer to the current month. "Consumers are expecting the German economy to experience a difficult period in the coming months," the GfK said. "A number of eurozone countries quite clearly slipped into recession recently, which is bad news for export-oriented companies, in particular."
