Irish consumer spending looks set to plummet by 40% this month as the coronavirus pandemic continues to hammer our economy.
New Central Bank of Ireland figures reveal ATM withdrawals across the country more than halved in the first week of April.
The public has been urged to use contactless payments instead of cash to stop the spread of Covid-19 – but card spending also dropped by almost a third during the same period.
At the current rate, consumer spending this month will be €2.6 billion less than April last year, the bank has warned.
The news comes as April saw the biggest monthly drop in Irish consumer sentiment in the survey’s 24-year history.
KBC Bank’s Chief Economist Austin Hughes said last month that kick-starting the Irish economy after the pandemic would require a €30 billion Government stimulus package.
He told the Irish Mirror last night: “The financial crisis was coming for a while, whereas this was something we woke up to suddenly at a time when a significant tranche of the population are still trying to find their feet financially.
“Things are very difficult and likely to remain difficult for some time.
“I don’t think we’ll automatically come out of the slumber - there’s going to be a need for very broad based and credible policies to kickstart the economy.”
The Bank’s Consumer Sentiment Index fell a massive 34.7 points from 77.3 in March to 42.6 this month.
That’s just a few points above the index’s lowest point of 39.6 recorded in July 2008 at the height of the last recession in Ireland.
Meanwhile a separate research paper by the Central Bank and recruitment website Indeed reveals that that job vacancies have fallen by almost a third since coronavirus pandemic kicked off.
