KBC Bank Ireland’s consumer sentiment index fell to 55.2 in May from 57.7 in April, the fifth time since the survey began two years ago. Over the decades, that confidence has waned for four consecutive months.

The last time she did it was in the summer of 2019, which seems likely to be a chaotic and very damaging breakout. Prior to that, it had doubled its four-month decline during the financial crisis of 2008 and 2010 and the bursting of the dotcom bubble in 2001.

The monthly drop of 2.5 points is much smaller than the sharp decline of the last two months, which is due to the fact that consumers are already prepared for a lot of bad financial news, the survey authors said.

“Encouragingly, the only factor that has improved in May compared to April is the buying sentiment,” said Austin Hughes, KBC Ireland’s chief economist.

“While it is indebted to the extraordinarily large withdrawal of this component over the past few months, it may point to some resilience and resourcefulness that will slow down Irish consumers rather than stop spending in the coming months.”