The "Consumer Attitude Index" in February, which shows consumers' willingness to shop, deteriorated by 1.4 points from the previous month due to the influence of the number of infected people of the new Corona remaining at a high level, and the Cabinet Office said. The keynote judgment of consumer sentiment has been revised downward to "weak".

The downward revision of the judgment is for the second consecutive month.

The consumer attitude index is an index that shows consumer sentiment by asking 8400 households nationwide about how they will live in the next six months and when it is time to buy automobiles and home appliances.



In a survey conducted in February, the index for households with two or more people was 35.3, 1.4 points lower than the previous month, the third consecutive month of deterioration.



The Cabinet Office analyzes that the number of people infected with the new corona remained at a high level nationwide, and that the prices of gasoline and foods that are familiar to people in daily life continued to rise.



For this reason, the keynote judgment of consumer sentiment has been revised downward following the previous month, saying that it is "weak."



This is the second consecutive month of downward revisions for the first time in about a year since January 2021.



On the other hand, the percentage of households who answered that the outlook for prices one year later would "rise" was 91.7%, two points higher than the previous month, and the highest since April 2004 when they started the same question. ..



The Cabinet Office says, "We need to continue to pay attention to how the rise in resource prices due to the tightening situation in Ukraine will affect consumer sentiment and personal consumption."