Business | General
High prices hit consumer confidence in Middle East
Consumer confidence in the Middle East has taken a blow, with the recent poll conducted by Bayt.com and YouGovSiraj, showing a significant dip in the propensity to spend.
- Staff Report
- Published: 01:41 December 3, 2007
Dubai: Consumer confidence in the Middle East has taken a blow, with the recent poll conducted by Bayt.com and YouGovSiraj, showing a significant dip in the propensity to spend.
The third Bayt.com Consumer Confidence survey, conducted in conjunction with market research leader YouGovSiraj, reveals an increasing reluctance to spend.
Consumers are increasingly unsure about their expenditure given rising living costs and a slowdown in some regional economies.
Some consumers, however, believe the situation will improve in the next few months.
The Bayt.com Consumer Confidence Index is a quarterly survey of consumer attitudes.
It measures views on the current and future state of regional economies, personal finance, saving, decisions to make investments and the employment market. The survey polled more than 14,000 adult respondents across the GCC, Levant and North Africa over a three-month period.
The figures have been compared with the results set in the April survey. During the April wave of research consumer confidence was higher than it is today.
Questions explored respondents' attitudes towards their financial and job situations, their likelihood to purchase and invest, and the region's employment market.
The survey reveals a broad range of attitudes according to country of residence, nationality, type of organisation and income.
Salary woes
The survey results show a significant increase in the number of people who felt that their salaries had not kept pace with their cost of living, with the UAE respondents being the largest group at 66 per cent.
Nassim Ghrayeb, CEO of YouGovSiraj, said, "There is no question that this has been a tumultuous year. A number of factors have put pressure on the regional consumer, continued inflation and the continually declining dollar.
"People have not been doing badly but at the year end there is a sense of pessimism towards finances. With out a significant economic shift, we may even see a drop off in spending next year."
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