OREANDA-NEWS  In the first quarter of this year, consumer sentiment among citizens is steadily improving — Russians tend to spend money, expecting a rise in the price of goods and services in the future. This is reported by Kommersant with reference to official data.

According to Rosstat, the younger generation (16-29 years old) began to save less than others this year — the consumer confidence index in this category increased by 10 percentage points, to minus 13 percent. The agency explains the jump in demand by record low unemployment with an increase in demand for labor. In addition, the trend is associated with an increase in real wages and social benefits at the end of 2022, a sharp reduction in citizens' savings in January and an improvement in the monthly dynamics of lending to citizens in February. Demand growth was also affected by the weakening of the ruble in the first quarter.

A similar dynamic is recorded by the Central Bank. According to his calculations based on a survey by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM), the consumer sentiment index increased by 1.6 points by February and updated the maximum since May 2018. At the same time, the regulator notes that in March, more than half of the surveyed citizens preferred to save rather than spend their free money. Also this month, the number of people choosing cash for savings has increased, which also indicates an increase in demand.