2026.01.2706:33:30UTC+00Finnish Consumer Morale Weakest in 11 Months

In January 2026, Finland's consumer confidence index fell to -8.7, down from -7.3 in December, reaching its lowest point since February of the previous year and deviating further from the long-term average of -2.8. Finnish households expressed increasingly pessimistic views regarding both their personal financial situations (-3 compared to -0.2 in December) and the overall state of the Finnish economy. The assessment of the current economic climate remained deeply negative (-41.8 compared to -41.4). Forecasts for economic conditions over the coming year also reflected continuous pessimism (-16 compared to -12.8), with consumers perceiving it as an unfavorable time for purchasing durable goods (-15 compared to -16.5) or securing loans (-29.9 compared to -30.3). Despite this, a modest increase in the intention to purchase cars (15.1 compared to 13.8) and take out loans (16.4 compared to 15.4) was observed. Meanwhile, expectations regarding unemployment remained bleak (-26.5 compared to -26.7), and the perceived risk of job losses escalated to its highest level since the pandemic year of 2020 (-18.4 compared to -15.7).