Sunday, Nov 13, 2016

Dubai: Job security (at 47 per cent) and the state of the economy (21 per cent) remain the biggest concerns impacting on UAE consumer confidence over the next six months, according to findings by Nielsen. This, in turn, has forced changes in the way residents’ take care of their spending patterns.

Interestingly, the UAE’s consumer confidence index is down only a point from Q2-16, at 108 points during Q3. But that still puts in pole position among its Middle East peers and outside of the region, with Saudi Arabia at 100 and Pakistan at 101.

Consumers in India and the Philippines retained the highest levels of confidence, with scores of 133 and 132 respectively, during the third quarter.

“Job security was the biggest or second-biggest concern for 29 per cent of Africa/Middle East respondents, an increase of one percentage point from the second quarter,” Nielsen reports. “Job concerns were followed by worries about the economy (26 per cent) and increasing food prices (16 per cent), both concerns showed no change from the second quarter.

“Worries about work/life balance (15 per cent) was up two percentage points from the second quarter and concerns about parent’s welfare and happiness (13 per cent) was down one percentage point.”

According to Arslan Ashraf, Managing Director, Nielsen Arabian Peninsula and Pakistan, “Despite the slowdown in growth, the UAE has proven to be fairly resilient to the recent economic headwinds triggered by low oil prices, due to its relatively diversified economy compared to that of neighbouring countries.

“The UAE has maintained indexes above optimism baseline for at least the past eight quarters and is among the 16 countries globally to reach or exceed the optimism benchmark.

“While the findings from the survey show that consumer continue to be prudent with their expenses, it is also important to note that consumer lifestyle and consumption patterns do not change overnight, but it is a gradual phenomenon.”

The Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index is done quarterly based on respondents from consumers in 63 countries. This relates to perceptions on local job prospects, personal finances, immediate spending intentions and related economic issues. Consumer confidence levels above and below a baseline of 100 indicate degrees of optimism and pessimism, respectively.

Among regions, in Asia-Pacific, consumer confidence scores ranged from a high of 133 to 46, while those in Europe were from 107 to 50, Latin America came up with a range of 104 to 57, and Africa/Middle East had 108 to 70.

In North America, the US ended the third quarter at 106 and Canada on 97.

BOX — Sharp fluctuations in global consumer confidence levels

Confidence gains were seen throughout the majority of measured markets in Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Europe. But they declined in four of six Africa/Middle East markets and in one of two North American markets.

Five of the world’s top 10 economies posted optimistic scores of 100 or higher: US (106), China (106), UK (106), Germany (100) and India (133).

Concerns about terrorism increased across Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific in the third quarter.

In Europe, consumer confidence improved in 26 of 34 measured markets from the second quarter. The UK’s score increased eight points.

Staff Report

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