UAE residents upbeat on their personal finances
dubai — Residents in the UAE are optimistic about their personal finances, with 65 per cent believing they would be good or excellent in the next 12 months, according to the results of a new survey.
The results of the Global Consumer Confidence Survey, which is produced in collaboration with Nielsen, showed that the UAE reported a significant improvement in consumer confidence with an index of 118 in the fourth quarter of 2017, which is a six-point increase from the previous quarter and a 10-point increase from the same period in 2016 — the highest in the region and ranked fifth globally.
The gain in confidence from the third quarter was driven by improvements in perception of personal finance sand immediate spending intentions.
At 55 per cent, more than half of the respondents were confident about immediate-spending intentions, an increase of three percentage points from the previous quarter.
The perception of job prospects however, dipped slightly with the share of respondents who think job prospects will be good or excellent over the next 12 months declined from 66 per cent in the third quarter to 64 per cent in the fourth quarter. The percentage of respondents who cited the economy as a leading concern increased one percentage point while concerns over job security declined in the fourth quarter by six percentage points from the previous quarter. “The economy is showing early signs of renewal as growth marginally picks up, with firming oil prices, an increase in infrastructure development and easing fiscal adjustment due to new revenue streams. This is reflected in the positive momentum of consumer confidence level in the country throughout 2017,” said Arslan Ashraf, managing director, Nielsen Arabian Peninsula and Pakistan.
Africa/Middle East saw the greatest change globally, with the region’s consumer confidence index rising three points to a score of 92, but it remains below the global average.