Consumer confidence rises across Asia-Pacific

Consumer confidence across the Asia-Pacific region has risen amid stable economic growth, with the emerging markets of Myanmar, India, Indonesia and the Philippines leading the region, according to the latest MasterCard Index of Consumer Confidence. 

As for Thailand, the overall score remains optimistic for the first half of this year at 74.9 index points, which has improved 5.3 points from the previous survey. Also worth noting is that all the consumer-confidence scores in component indices – economy, employment, stock market, regular income and quality of life – in the respondents’ six-month outlook have risen in Thailand.

The index is based on a survey conducted in April and May on 12,205 respondents aged 18-64 in 27 countries and territories in the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East and Africa. This is the 41st survey conducted since 1993. 

Now in its 20th year, the index is Asia-Pacific’s most comprehensive and longest-running consumer-confidence survey. Respondents were asked five questions pertaining to their six-month outlook on the economy, employment prospects, the local stock market, their regular income prospects and their quality of life. The index score is calculated with zero as the most pessimistic, 100 as most optimistic and 50 as neutral. 

Overall, 10 of the 16 Asia-Pacific markets recorded improvements from the second half of last year, led by Myanmar (96.0), India (82.0), Indonesia (81.0) and the Philippines (79.9). Japan recorded the most substantial improvement in consumer confidence, surging 37.0 points from the previous survey to 60.7, the highest since the second half of 2005 when the index reached 63.0. 

Sentiment among Taiwanese and South Korean consumers also jumped, with increases of 19.2 and 14.8 points. The overall score for Taiwan more than doubled the previous index (25.7 points).

 

Optimistic view

“Overall, Asians are still relatively optimistic about the state of their economies,” Pierre Burret, head of Asia-Pacific for MasterCard Advisors, said yesterday. “The large jumps in consumer confidence seen in Japan can be attributed to the government’s measures to tackle deflation, while in the case of Korea it can be linked to the new government’s strong measures to boost the domestic economy, particularly in property-related tax cuts.” 

In Thailand, consumer confidence stands at 74.9, a 5.3-per-cent increase from 69.9 in the second half of last year. Besides, consumer confidence in Thailand also witnessed an improvement across all key indicators including economy (up 5.3 to 69.8), employment (up 9.8 to 75.7), stock market (up 0.5 to 71.3), regular income (up 5.7 to 90.1) and quality of life (up 5.3 to 67.6). 

The biggest deterioration in consumer confidence was seen in Bangladesh, which dropped by 39.5 to 22.2, underpinned by political uncertainty, a series of strikes and a crisis in the key garments industry. Consumer confidence also declined by 16.1 points in Vietnam to 58.4, with the sub-indices for all major indicators taking a hit.

Overall, sentiment among Asia-Pacific consumers improved by 1.2 points to 63.3. Across the region, the indicator of employment showed the largest increase of 3.2 to 62.6, followed by stock market (up 2.3 to 61.3), economy (up 1.6 to 61.6) and regular income (up 0.4 to 74.2). Quality of life, however, declined by 1.5 to 56.6.