Riyadh – Mubasher: Consumer confidence in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) falls at the optimism baseline as the index decreased by four points from the previous quarter, according to the latest consumer confidence report from Nielsen
Nielsen Global Survey of Consumer Confidence and Spending Intentions recorded a Consumer Confidence Index of 100 for KSA in Q3 2016, down from 104 in Q2 2016.
Despite the decline, KSA is amongst the 16 countries globally to reach or exceed the optimism benchmark, noted Nielsen.
"The still-low oil prices have taken its toll on government revenues with fiscal deficit weighing on the country’s economic growth. Although there has been a slowdown in growth, KSA’s confidence has proven to be fairly resilient as it maintained solid footing with indexes at or above optimism baseline for at least the past 10 quarters," said Arslan Ashraf, managing director, Nielsen Arabian Peninsula and Pakistan.
"In spite of the decrease in confidence, there are some segments of consumers that are still upbeat about spending across a few lifestyle areas such as new clothing and technology products,” noted Ashraf.
The survey pointed out that, the consumers’ outlook on personal financial situation was a major contributor to declining confidence; just over half of KSA respondents (56%) feel favorable about the state of their personal finance over the next twelve months, a drop of eight% from the previous quarter.
The number of consumers feeling positive about the outlook on their job prospects declined 4% to 46% quarter-on-quarter, while the proportion of consumers who believe the coming 12 months will be a good time to buy the things they need and want increased slightly by 2% to 47% from the second quarter.
The survey also mentioned that, one third of KSA respondents (45%) cited job security as their biggest or second biggest concern over the next 12 months. Job concerns were followed by worries about the economy (26%) and parents’ welfare and happiness (16%).
