Eurozone household confidence has just recorded its largest drop since the start of the war in Ukraine, according to an initial survey by the European Commission (EC) conducted between March 1 and 22. This period follows the outbreak of the US and Israeli war against Iran, which escalated into a Persian Gulf conflict and disrupted oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, a crisis that remains ongoing. With this decline, the sharpest in four years, consumer confidence in the Eurozone and the European Union (EU) has sunk to its lowest level in two and a half years. This is a bad sign for households, businesses, and governments, as well as for the European Central Bank (ECB), which is monitoring these statistics to see if consumer pessimism is spreading to inflation expectations. If so, the central bank, led by Christine Lagarde, will have stronger arguments to raise Eurozone interest rates, potentially as early as April, analysts and economists warn.
Household confidence records its biggest collapse since the start of the war in Ukraine
Monday, 23 March 2026RSS
Context & Explainers
Inflation measures how much general prices rise over time, usually reported year‑on‑year to compare a month with the same month a year earlier. Portugal’s National Institute of Statistics (INE) estimated January inflation at 1.9% year‑on‑year, down 0.3 percentage points from December, which affects rents, wages and everyday purchasing power for residents.
