Consumer confidence edged up for the first time in five months in May as coronavirus infections fell enough to end the nationwide state of emergency, the government said Friday.
The seasonally adjusted sentiment index for households of two or more people stood at 24, up from the all-time low of 21.6 set in April, according to the Cabinet Office.
The figure, however, is the second-lowest since April 2004, when the survey went monthly, and lower than the 27.5 posted in January 2009 during the global financial crisis.