According to Deloitte’s research, the average Portuguese shopper will spend 315 euros on Christmas this year, which is five percent down on last year’s budgets for Portuguese families.
Nonetheless, almost half of the money put aside for the festive season, will be spent on Christmas gifts.
Children can rest assured, that they are still the main recipients of presents, according to the yearly report, which also shows that families will spend around 143 euros on gifts, a further 118 euros on food and drink and 54 euros on socialising over the festive period.
The Portuguese budget falls well below the average European budget which is almost 200 euros higher at 513 euros.
According to researchers, other countries tightening their festive belts this Christmas are South Africa, where spending is expected to fall by ten percent, Greece (down by 8.6 percent) and Russia with a drop of seven percent.
Deloitte’s 2015 Christmas Survey was carried out in 14 different countries and is based on feedback from 14,065 people.
Most of the 761 respondents surveyed in Portugal between 28 September and 5 October blamed a reduction in available disposable income as the main reason for their reluctance to splash the cash this Christmas.
Even so, the majority of the Portuguese participants are more optimistic about the evolution of the economy and spending power this year than in recent years, and said their expectations for the future have significantly improved.
In fact Portugal’s outlook is, for the first time in more than five years, better than the European average.
In related news, Portuguese retail figures returned their best quarterly growth figures in two years with a 2.5 percent rise in shopper spending, according to Growth Reporter figures released by consultants Nielsen at the start of this week.
Without providing any totals, Nielsen said that the third quarter had reinforced growth in the previous four quarters, seeing the country bouncing back from a two percent decline in growth in the third quarter of 2014.
However, pricing remains an issue with retailers continuing to trim prices to keep the footfall coming with the third quarter seeing prices shrink 0.6 percent.