And the balance that assesses households’ views about “whether it is a good time to make a major purchase” has also fallen back substantially since the start of the year – although that is likely, to some extent, to reflect the impact of the rise in VAT. Chart 8 Measures of consumer confidence Optimism over the next year(a) Good time to make a major purchase? Balance 40 30 20 10 0 -10 -20 -30 -40 -50  1985  1990  1995  2000  2005  2010  Source: Research carried out by GfK NOP on behalf of the European Commission. (a) Average of the questions on households’ current financial situation, and the general economic situation, over the next 12 months. Other factors, such as the ongoing restrictions on the availability of credit and households’ concerns about their levels of debt, may also contribute to the likely weakness of household spending going forward, by encouraging households to save more and spend less, for a given level of income. Overall, given the continuing squeeze in household real incomes and the renewed fall in consumer confidence, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was only slow growth in consumer spending over the next year or so. The risks around that are probably skewed to the downside. Even if we do get the anticipated boost to net exports, overall growth in output is unlikely to be much above its historical average rate.
As always, I stand ready to change my views should the economic outlook change sufficiently to warrant it. BIS central bankers’ speeches  9