Europeans are leaving their houses to go shopping, eat out, travel and visit cinemas as much as they did before the pandemic, in a sign of returning consumer confidence which suggests that the eurozone’s economic rebound remains intact, for now.
Despite a slew of worrying economic news — from high energy bills that threaten household spending, to supply-chain disruptions that hinder manufacturers, or China’s economic slowdown — September data suggest that European consumers feel emboldened by high Covid-19 vaccination rates to venture out again.
“For now, data remain consistent with a decent pace of recovery,” said Davide Oneglia, economist at TS Lombard, a research and macroeconomic forecasting consultancy.