UAE’s consumer confidence still high

Consumers in the UAE are approaching the next six months with a little less optimism than the first half of 2010, according to the latest MasterCard Worldwide Index of Consumer Confidence Survey.

The UAE has seen a small decline in the current consumer confidence score (82.4 vs. 86.1 six months ago), though this score is still high and a significant improvement from a year ago (29.6), according to a statement.

“We are encouraged to see that consumer confidence in the UAE is still high and consumers continue to be optimistic about the next six months,” said Raghu Malhotra, general manager, Middle East (Gulf Countries), MasterCard Worldwide.

“UAE consumers are particularly upbeat regarding their intended future spending on dining and entertainment, international personal air travel and fashion and accessories in the coming six months,” Malhotra said.

He said historically, the UAE consumers have tended to rate dining and entertainment and fashion and accessories quite highly.

“However, it is interesting to see that travel has also moved to the position of a top purchasing priority in this latest survey,” he said.

This, he added, is partly a reflection of the fact that the survey was conducted around the same time as the commencement of UAE’s key travel season in the summer months.

These results are particularly relevant for the retail, hospitality and travel sectors in the UAE, he said.

Released twice a year, the Index is based on a survey which measures consumer confidence on prevailing expectations in the market 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 most optimistic and 50 as neutral. 

The latest survey was conducted from 15 March to 12 April 2010 and involved 2,400 consumers from six markets in the Middle East and Levant.

In the UAE, consumer confidence has decreased slightly and the scores indicate that consumers polled have become a little less optimistic (82.4) about the next six months.

The consumer sentiment is reflected by the five economic indicators that make up the overall Index score.

Of these indicators, sentiments toward the quality of life (87.5 vs. 83.7) and regular income (86.8 vs. 81.9) have increased compared to six months ago, whereas sentiments have decreased for stock market (72.6 vs. 89.6), economy (83.0 vs. 89.4) and employment (82.4 vs. 86.0), the statement said.