Bangkok--12 Jul--124 Communications Consulting
Emerging Markets Are Most Optimistic but Largest Improvements in Consumer Confidence Recorded in Japan, Taiwan and Korea
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Consumer confidence across Asia/Pacific 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 IndexTM of Consumer Confidence. As for Thailand, the overall scores remain optimistic for the first half of 2013 at 74.9 index points, which have improved +5.3 index points from the previous survey. Also worth to note that all the consumer confidence scores from 5 component indexes, consisting of economy, employment, stock market, regular income, and quality of life, in the respondents’ 6-month outlook, have risen in Thailand.
The MasterCard Index of Consumer Confidence (“Index”) is based on a survey conducted between April 2013 and May 2013 on 12,205 respondents aged 18 — 64 in 27 countries within Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa. This is the 41st survey of Consumer Confidence 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 6 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. The Index and its accompanying reports do not represent MasterCard’s financial performance.
Overall, 10 out of 16 Asia/Pacific markets recorded positive improvements from the second half of 2012, led by Myanmar (96.0 index points), India (82.0 index points), Indonesia (81.0 index points) and the Philippines (79.9 index points). Japan recorded the most substantial improvement in consumer confidence, surging 37.0 index points from the previous survey to 60.7 index points, the highest it has been since the second half of 2005 when the index reached 63.0 index points[1].
Sentiment among Taiwanese and Korean consumers also jumped, with increases of 19.2 index points and 14.8 index points respectively. The overall score for Taiwan more than doubled that seen in the previous Index (25.7 index points).
“Overall, Asians are still relatively optimistic about the state of their economies. The large jumps in consumer confidence seen in Japan can be attributed to the government’s measures to tackle deflation, whereas 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,” said Pierre Burret, Region Head, Asia/Pacific, MasterCard Advisors.
In Thailand, consumer confidence stands at 74.9 index points, an increase from 69.9 index points (+5.3) scored in the second half of last year. Besides, consumer confidence in Thailand also witnessed an increment across all key indicators;
Economy (64.5 to 69.8 Index points: +5.3)
Employment (65.9 to 75.7 Index points: +9.8)
Stock market (70.8 to 71.3 Index points: +0.5)
Regular Income (84.4 to 90.1 Index points: +5.7)
Quality of life (62.3 to 67.6 Index points: +5.3)
The biggest deterioration in consumer confidence was seen in Bangladesh, which dropped 39.5 index points to 22.2 index points, underpinned by political uncertainty, a series of strikes, and crisis in the key garments sector. Consumer confidence also declined in Vietnam, down 16.1 index points from the previous survey to 58.4 index points, with the sub-indexes for all major indicators taking a hit.
Overall, sentiment among consumers in Asia/Pacific improved by 1.2 index points, from 62.1 index points in the second half of 2012 to 63.3 index points. Across the region, the indicator of employment showed the largest increase of 3.2 index points (from 59.4 to 62.6 index points), followed by stock market (+2.3 index points; from 59.0 to 61.3 index points), economy (+1.6 index points; from 60.0 to 61.6 index points), and regular income (+0.4 index points; from 73.8 to 74.2 index points). Quality of life, however, declined by 1.5 index points (from 58.1 to 56.6 index points).
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[1] The index of Consumer Confidence for Japan was on an uptrend from 2004 H2 (37.7 index points) to 2007 H1 (66.8 index points), before it started to tumble in 2007 H2 (48.6 index points) due to the global financial crisis.