Consumer confidence ‘exceeds boom’

Consumers are more buoyant now than they were even in the so-called ‘boom’ years of 2006 and 2007, claims a new survey.

According to the latest Consumer Market Monitor, jointly published by the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School and the Marketing Institute of Ireland, consumer spending last year contributed to economic growth for the first time since the financial crash of 2008. The survey found consumer confidence levels, rose 12 points in the final quarter of 2014, higher than levels seen in the pre-crisis years.

It also forecasts that the volume of consumption, or retail sales, will grow by 1.6% this year.