Consumer confidence plunges to 30-year low

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– XXXCREDIT confidence tumbled to its lowest level in more than three decades.

Having already slipped from -9 to -13 index points during the first quarter of 2022, the FNB/BER Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) plunged to -25 in the second quarter of 2022.

The FNB/BER consumer confidence survey provides regular assessments of consumer attitudes and expectations and are used to evaluate economic trends and prospects.

The survey is designed to explore why changes in consumer expectations occur and how these changes influence consumer spending and saving decisions.

Consumer confidence fell notably across all income groups. Data shows that highincome confidence soured more than lowincome confidence since the end of 2021.

FNB said the confidence level of highincome households, those earning more than R20,000 per month, crashed to -30 in the second quarter as the vast majority of more affluent households anticipated a deterioration in their household finances and, in particular, in the country’s economic growth rate.

FNB chief economist Mamello Matikinca-ngwenya said the dramatic deterioration in consumer sentiment now signals a marked slowdown in consumer spending in coming months.

Matikinca-ngwenya said “the collapse” of the CCI during the second quarter of 2022 could be ascribed to a major deterioration in the economic outlook.

Data shows that the economic outlook subindex of the CCI dramatically fell from 18 to -39. There was a complete turnabout in the household financial prospects subindex, which moved from a positive from +8 to -5).

The index measuring the appropriateness of the present time to buy durable goods such as vehicles, furniture, household appliances and electronic goods also edged down from 28 to -32, indicating that consumers consider the present as an inappropriate time to purchase durable goods. -