Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi’s Consumer Confidence recorded an increase of 10 per cent in 2013 compared to 2012, according to the emirate’s economic performance index for 2013 issued by the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development.
The individual financial condition sub-index scored 116 points, up by 6.64 per cent from 2012, and confidence in government policies index recorded 127 points, an increase of 10 per cent from the previous year. The future expectation sub-index recorded 162 points, up by 14 per cent from 2012.
The rise is attributed to the feelings of consumers and respondents that the economic situation for them and their families improved in 2013, as the financial conditions stood at 116 points in 2013 compared to 109.8 in 2012.
The results placed the UAE first in the Middle East and North Africa and fifth globally on the Nielsen Global Survey of Consumer Confidence and Spending for the fourth quarter of 2013. The UAE scored 110 points, ahead of Canada, the US and Norway.
The index shows that 2013 witnessed a rise in all consumer confidence sub-indexes; the results indicate consumers’ optimism in decisions taken on price control mechanisms, and the effective role played by the consumer protection section at DED on the federal and local level by seizing counterfeit products and organising anti-commercial fraud exhibitions.
The index results point out that a total of 139,000 counterfeit products were seized by DED from January to November 2013, issuing 89 fines against offenders selling fake goods. The market value of these confiscated products is estimated to be Dh34.84 million.
Some logical declines in the value of the general index occurred during the months of 2013 and affected its normal course, but according to the index performance of 2013, consumers were more optimistic in 2013 than in 2012 due to many factors. An increase of 14 per cent was recorded in future expectations in 2013. Increases were also recorded in optimism on employment opportunities, economic conditions and positive expectations about individual financial conditions.
Optimism levels on individual and consumer financial conditions recorded 180 points in December 2013, up from 175 in December 2012.
