MONEY WORRIES LESSEN IN SA

SURVEY: 31% SAY FINANCES STILL MORE OF A CONCERN THAN COVID-19

Expenditure and debt servicing also on the up.

Consumers are becoming less financially vulnerable, according to a survey of the first quarter of the year, thanks to a recovery in the income of especially middle and higher income groups.

However, 30.7% of respondents believed consumers were more focused on finances than on staying safe from coronavirus and 26.7% said consumers still valued their finances, but were also attaching high value to staying safe.

The Momentum-Unisa Consumer Financial Vulnerability Index (CFVI) for the second quarter of last year, when the lockdown started, was 35.4 points.

In the first quarter of this year, the CFVI improved to 49.7 points from 47.5 points in the fourth quarter of last year.

Consumer expenditure and debt servicing also improved and were higher than in the fourth quarter of 2019, except in the case of savings.

The income index increased from 47.7 points in the fourth quarter of 2020 to 50.2.

The expenditure index improved from 49.2 points in the fourth quarter to 52.3.

The savings index increased from 1.5 points in the fourth quarter to 48.8 points.

The debt servicing index rose from 45.8 points in the fourth quarter to 47.5 points.

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