Ngozi Amuche
Central Bank of Nigeria has said that the Consumers’ confidence in the fourth quarter of 2020 has increased with indices of 10.1 and 30.5 points, respectively.
This was disclosed by the Statistics Department of the CBN in its Consumer expectations survey’ report for September, which was released on Friday.
According to the report, consumers were optimistic in their outlook for the next quarter and next 12 months.
This positive outlook could be attributed to the expected increase in net household income, an anticipated improvement in Nigeria’s economic conditions and expectations to save a bit and/or have plenty over savings in the next quarter and the next 12 months.
It stated, “Most respondents expected prices of goods and services to rise in the next 12 months, with an index of 36.2 points.
“The major drivers were savings, purchase of car/motor vehicle, purchase of appliances/ durables, education, food & other household needs and purchase of houses.
“Overall buying intention index in the next 12 months stood at 29.7 index points, indicating that most consumers did not intend to buy big-ticket items in the next 12 months.”
It added that the buying intention indices for consumer durables, motor vehicles and houses were below 50 points, which showed that respondents had no plans to make these purchases in the next 12 months.
However, the consumers’ overall confidence outlook dipped in Q3 2020, as consumers were pessimistic in their outlook.
It stated, “The index at -21.2 point was 25.0 points lower than the index in the corresponding period of 2019.
“Respondents attributed this unfavourable outlook to declining economic conditions, family financial situation and declining family income.”
The Overall consumer confidence index is computed as the average of the three indices, namely: Economic Condition, Family Financial Situation and Family Income.