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Households in the grand duchy, surveyed by the Luxembourg Central Bank (BCL) in May 2021, thought the country’s economy was on the soundest footing since well before the pandemic, but remained quite cautious about their own spending. Library picture: Shoppers at the Ikea store in Arlon, 30 April 2021. Photographer: Romain Gamba. 

Residents are notably more optimistic about the grand duchy’s economic recovery, but remained remarkably pessimistic about their own personal financial situations.

The central bank’s consumer confidence indicator for May 2021 was -1, compared to -3 for April 2021 and -17 for May 2020, the BCL reported on Monday. The indicator hit -24 in April 2020 and then was -10 or less for the rest of the year.

The indicator represents “the difference between the percentages of respondents giving positive and negative replies” across four components and is seasonally adjusted.

The BCL said the score for “consumers’ expectations of the general economic situation in Luxembourg” was +10 for May 2021, compared to -4 for April and -39 for May 2020.

The balance of households’ “perception of their financial situation over the past 12 months” was -2 for May 2021, compared to -4 for April 2021 and -2 for May 2020.

“Their expected financial situation over the next 12 months” was +1 for May 2021, +3 for April 2021 and -7 for May 2020.

The central bank said that its sub-indicator for consumers’ “intended spending on major purchases” was -12 for May 2021, compared to -7 for April 2021 and -19 for May 2020.