Consumers are feeling better about the prospects of the economy than they have at any time since Spring of last year.

The latest consumer sentiment index from KBC Bank and the ESRI shows a surprising jump in confidence about the economy during October.

KBC Ireland chief economist Austin Hughes said the national mood was becoming brighter thanks to better international news as the world’s largest economies emerge from recession and the pace of job losses at home shows signs of slowing down.

“Consumers are still very cautious, they expect unemployment to rise more” he said.

“But they feel that the awful news in terms of large lay offs every day of the week- that we saw at the start of the year -is now a thing of the past”.

“So still tough, but a little less awful than it was” he added.