August 11, 2014

Consumer sentiment rose from the 41.1 points recorded in June to 41.5 points in July, which marked the highest reading since November 2013. The consumer confidence index measures consumers’ expectations for the next six months on a scale of 0–100, where 100 points indicates that all respondents see their living standards improving.



July’s print was the result of an across-the-board improvement in consumer confidence as all but one of the subcategories of the index gained ground over the previous month. Income growth recorded the largest increase, while consumers’ views on employment prospects and overall livelihood only improved marginally. Conversely, household’s willingness to buy durable goods was unchanged over the previous month.

FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists expect private consumption to increase 0.6% in 2014, which is up 0.1 percentage points from last month’s forecast. In 2015, the panel sees private consumption growing 0.4%.