What did the consumer confidence index leave?
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The index measures confidence in personal finances, job security, and investment capacity, among others
The consumer confidence index carried out in 24 countries by market researchers Ipsos and Reuters, is an economic indicator of consumer confidence and optimism about the economy, both present, and future, of their country. This index is based, among other factors, on spending or savings trends that occur among consumers, their willingness to make large investments and the management of their personal finances. Below, we present some data, all taken from the official report, for the region.
Leer en español: ¿Qué dejó el primer resumen del índice de confianza del consumidor?
The report begins by saying that "although consumer confidence is recovering in several countries, it is receding or stagnating in most of the world's largest economies." Despite this, countries such as Brazil and Mexico showed significant increases in their national index; Brazil's national index increased 8.7 in the last three months and Mexico's 4.4.
According to Ipsos, this is due to the presidential elections that recently took place in both countries, since the market researcher has shown that it is a recurrent tendency for countries with newly elected presidents to present rises in their indexes. Other countries such as Saudi Arabia, Argentina, and South Africa also showed an increase in their national index of 3.9, 2.67 and 1.9 points respectively.
However, despite the rise in its index, Argentina continues to be among the countries with the lowest consumer confidence index, with an index of 38.7 comparable to Turkey (32.2) and France (39.1).
On the other hand, countries with the biggest falls in their indices were China with a fall of 5.4 points, Turkey with a fall of 5.4 points, and France with a fall of 3.6 points.
This study also covers more specific fields such as confidence in job security. The global average of this figure remained stable since December with an index of 58.4, and the country with the highest increase in this area was Brazil with a high increase of 7.5 points, followed by Mexico with 4.7 and Argentina with 2.8.
Also read: China and EU: a commercial strategy that serves the environment?
There is no change in expectations
Likewise, the expectations index, which refers to the confidence in personal finances, also remained stable since December at the global level with a 57.9. However, comparing it to the last three months, almost 50% of the countries analyzed showed decreases greater than 1-5 points in their index.
Only four countries, of which two are Latin American, showed a significant increase. Brazil presented the highest increase with 5.9 points, followed by Saudi Arabia with 2.5, Mexico with 2.2 and South Africa with 2.1. On the other hand, South Korea, France, and Russia presented the highest losses in this index with falls of 2.8, 2.6 and 2.6 respectively.
Finally, the confidence index against large investments fell 0.1 points globally in the last 3 months, standing only 0.8 points below its historical maximum presented between February and March of last year. The countries with the highest increases in this area are, again, Brazil with a 10.5 point increase, Saudi Arabia with a 6.3 point rise, Mexico with a 4.6 point increase, South Africa with 3.7 points of rising, and Argentina with 3 points.
LatinAmerican Post | Sofía Carreño
Translated from: '¿Qué dejó el primer resumen del índice de confianza del consumidor?'
