Inflation is the biggest cause for concern for 40 percent of Germans, McKinsey said in a study report on Monday.
Meanwhile, one in three is afraid that the current crisis situation will have a lasting impact on economic development, and possibly lead to a recession.
"People see that there is less left in their wallets at the end of the month," said McKinsey partner and co-author of the study, Marcus Jacob. "This affects lower-income households in particular, but higher earners are also cutting back."
Inflation in Germany climbed to a 40-year high, at 7.4 percent, in April.
Growing at 35.3 percent, rising energy and motor fuel prices continued to drive inflation in Europe's biggest economy. Eurozone inflation was even slightly higher, at 7.5 percent.
After the German government recently lowered its economic forecast to 2.2 percent, the European Commission (EC) on Monday followed suit and slashed its gross domestic product (GDP) forecast for 2022 to 2.7 percent, with expected inflation at 6.1 percent.
Prior to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the EC was still forecasting growth of 4.0 percent, and inflation of 3.5 percent.
The conflict is "weighing on Europe's economic recovery," leading to a surge in energy prices and further disrupting supply chains, said European Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni when presenting the figures. Inflation is "now set to remain higher for longer."
In Germany, 93 percent of consumers in a McKinsey survey of around 1,000 people said they had already felt the impact of rising prices.
The German Bundestag (lower house of Parliament) has already passed several measures to tackle this situation, including raising the basic personal income tax allowance.
This year alone, the measures are expected to provide relief of 4.5 billion euros (4.7 billion U.S. dollars). (1 euro = 1.04 U.S. dollars)
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