Malaysian Consumer Confidence Resilient In 2Q17 -- Nielsen

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 23 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian consumer confidence in the second quarter of 2017 portrayed signs of resilience, growing seven index points to 94 percentage points from the same period a year ago, hitting the highest level since the first quarter of 2015. The latest Nielsen Global Survey of Consumer Confidence and Spending ranked Malaysia as the 28th most confident country globally, despite being listed as the second lowest in Southeast Asia. Nielsen Malaysia Managing Director Richard Hall said the higher consumer confidence level was likely resulted from improvement in the key economic indicators, a stabilising currency and no major shocks in the system. "However, while the index remains marginally below the neutral level, we see that any increase in consumer spending towards the second half of the year will be driven by continued positive economic news and price stability," he said in a statement Wednesday. Established in 2005, the Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index is fielded quarterly in 63 countries to measure the perceptions of local job prospects, personal finances, immediate spending intentions and related economic issues of real consumers around the world. Consumer confidence levels above and below a baseline of 100 indicate degrees of optimism and pessimism, while within a country, period-to-period movements of seven points or more are considered statistically significant. The Nielsen survey revealed that Malaysians' main concerns still revolved around the economy (47 per cent), job security (22 per cent) and increasing food prices (18 per cent), with 83 per cent of surveyed respondents believing that the nation was still in a recessionary state. "There still remains a question of the disconnect between the economic indicators and consumer sentiment which, although moving the same direction now, still indicate that the average Malaysian consumer was not feeling the impact of the positive economic growth at grassroots level. "Whilst the economy remains the number one concern for half of the nation's consumers, uncertainty will most likely intensify as the (general) election approaches, which is on the horizon," Hall said. On savings, the survey said Malaysian consumers were seen to be planning for their golden age by stretching any extra cash into investing shares of stock/mutual funds (32 per cent), paying medical insurance premiums (25 per cent) and towards their retirement fund (22 per cent). However, it said should the economic conditions improve, at least one-third of Malaysian consumers were expected to continue to save on gas and electricity (33 per cent) and reduce on out-of-home entertainment (33 per cent). ”About one-quarter of the respondents said that they will spend less on new clothes (28 per cent) and switch to cheaper grocery brands (28 per cent)," it added. -- BERNAMA