The confidence of Eurozone families has just recorded the biggest drop since the start of the war in Ukraine, shows a first survey carried out by the European Commission (EC) between March 1st and 22nd, that is, the period following the start of the US and Israeli war against Iran, which led to a war in the Persian Gulf and the interruption of oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, a crisis that is still ongoing.
With this drop, the biggest in the last four years, the level of consumer confidence in the Euro Zone and the European Union (EU) sank to the worst record in the last two and a half years.
A bad sign for families, companies and the government, but also for the European Central Bank (ECB) which will be monitoring these statistics to see if consumer pessimism is spreading to inflation expectations.
If so, the central bank chaired by Christine Lagarde will gain more weighty arguments to raise interest rates in the Euro Zone, possibly as early as April, some analysts and economists warn.
“In March 2026, the preliminary estimate from the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN) for the consumer confidence indicator plummeted in both the EU (-3.4 percentage points compared to February) and the eurozone (-4 percentage points).”
The two indicators thus sank to -15.2 points (EU) and -16.3 points (euro zone), that is, consumer confidence is considerably below its long-term average, reaching the lowest level in two and a half years”, says the EC.
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