SOUTH African consumer confidence fell sharply in the second half of last year to 48.0 from 69.8 in the first half‚ the MasterCard Index of Consumer Confidence showed yesterday.
The country suffered a series of blows to its confidence last year, such as the Marikana tragedy and the subsequent downgrading of South Africa's sovereign rating by the three major international ratings agencies – Moody's‚ Standard and Poor's‚ and Fitch.
The index is based on a survey which measures consumer confidence on prevailing expectations in the country for the next six months based on five economic indicators: economy‚ employment‚ stock market‚ regular income and quality of life. The index score is calculated with zero as the most pessimistic‚ 100 as the most optimistic and 50 as neutral.
"It must be noted that while the index scores fell sharply‚ the overall score of 48.0 still falls within the index's neutral range. This means the South Africans surveyed are neither optimistic nor pessimistic – they are simply less optimistic than before," MasterCard SA division president Philip Panaino said. – BDlive
