Singapore posts deteriorating consumer confidence

Singaporeans showed strong declines in consumer sentiment compared to the previous six months.

According to a release, consumer confidence among developed markets in Asia/Pacific has dropped as concerns about slow growth spread across the region, according to the latest MasterCard Worldwide Index of Consumer Confidence.

The MasterCard Worldwide Index of Consumer Confidence is based on a survey conducted between 5 December 2011 and 8 February 2012 on 12,915 respondents aged 18 to 64 years in 25 countries within Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa. This is the 38th 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. 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.

Only 5 out of 14 Asia/Pacific markets polled recorded positive sentiment when compared to the first half of 2011. The last Index conducted during the first half of 2011 showed that 11 out of the 14 Asia/Pacific markets polled recorded positive consumer sentiment with stable optimism. Overall, Asia/Pacific saw a drop from 57.4 Index points in the first half of 2011 to 52.1 Index points with declines in all key indicators of regular income (69.0 to 64.5 Index  points), employment (56.8 to 49.3 Index points), economy (54.8 to 49.3 Index points), quality of life (49.7 to 49.6 Index points) and stock market (56.7 to 47.9 Index points).

Extreme deteriorations were recorded in Hong Kong, down 38.7 Index points compared to the first half of 2011. Taiwan (down 36.3 Index points), Singapore (down 25.9 Index points) and South Korea (down 19.7 Index points) also saw strong declines in consumer sentiment compared to the previous six months. However, significant improvement was recorded in emerging markets such as Indonesia (up 21.8 Index points), Thailand (up 19.5 Index points), India (up 18.4 Index points) and Philippines (up 24.7 Index points).