CAIRO: Consumer confidence in Egypt fell by 0.7 index points in the first quarter of 2010, according to Bayt.com and YouGov Siraj's recently released Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) survey. Consumer confidence had previously been on the rise for the second half of 2009. In its latest findings, the CCI, which addresses various elements of the economy including inflation, job opportunities and the cost of living, established that about half of countries surveyed demonstrated marked declines in consumer confidence, while the other half showed reasonable improvements. The findings therefore place Egypt somewhere between a wide range of increases and drops in consumer confidence amongst Middle Eastern and Northern African countries, ranging from a 12.1-index-point fall for Lebanon to a 6.2-point jump for Morocco. “It is always interesting at the first quarter of each year to see how consumer confidence changes from one calendar year to the next,” said Amer Zureikat, Bayt.com's regional manager. “In this wave, what we have seen is that in some cases countries have undergone a complete reversal; they reported drops in the last wave but have improved this time around and vice versa.” According to the Consumer Expectations Index (CEI), it found that in spite of a slight drop in consumer confidence, 31 percent of respondents in Egypt felt that their personal financial situations had nevertheless improved over 2009. Fifty-one percent said they believe that in 2011 their personal financial situations will be even better versus just 49 percent for the entire region. Asked whether Egyptians felt that their country would be in a better economic position in 2011, 33 percent affirmed that they felt it would be, compared to 29 percent who did not share the same optimism. This is compared to 41 percent of all respondents who believed that their countries' economic situation would improve in a year's time. Interestingly, again despite the dip in consumer confidence in Egypt, the Propensity to Consumer Index (PCI) established that Egyptians propensity to consume increased by 0.2 index points. Their optimism about the future also moved up by 0.7 index points — marginal but noteworthy changes. In general, asked whether it is a good time to buy durable goods such as televisions and refrigerators, most respondents from all countries surveyed declared that it was either a bad time — 37 percent — or gave a neutral response — 35 percent. Pertaining to perceptions about the job market and salaries, the Employee Confidence Index (ECI) showed that 22 percent of Egyptians expressed optimism that job availability will improve, while 34 percent lamented that they think it will worsen. For this particular index, Egypt dropped 4.5 index points overall. The majority of respondents from all surveyed countries felt that salaries have not been keeping pace with the cost of living. Indeed, a staggering 64 percent believe that a gap exists, 19 percent stated that their salaries have increased in tandem, and a handful — 5 percent of respondents — declared that their salaries have augmented more than the cost of living.
