IPSOS survey: 20pc drop in dismay over future financial conditions

KARACHI: Pakistani respondents have expressed optimism in their financial conditions reflecting an increase in their consumer confidence.

A 20 pc decrease in despondency with the future financial conditions within six months was found among the respondents surveyed. In the present survey, only 55 pc of those asked about their future financial prospects were dismayed as compared to 75 pc in a similar survey conducted in September this year.

IPSOS Pakistan in its Global Consumer Confidence Index found increasing optimism among the respondents. For the survey over 18-year -old both male and female candidates were randomly picked. This survey was conducted from Nov 29th to Dec 4, 2022.

In the present IPSOS survey, 22 pc respondents were found confident about their future financial conditions in next six months, reporting an increase of 13 pc more over the survey conducted in Sept when only nine pc of those asked this same question had responded with confidence. Besides, a 20 pc decrease in despondency with their future financial outlook of six months was registered and only 55 pc of those asked in December about their future financial prospects were dismayed as compared to 75 pc in a similar survey conducted in September this year.

As many as 22 pc were found to be more confident about their future outlook, showing a 13 pc increase over the last survey conducted in Sept when only nine pc respondents responded with confidence. Similarly, a 7pc increase was seen among those who termed their response as ‘in between’ with a total 23 pc response as compared to 16 pc response to the same question back in September.

To the question regarding the current financial position, a 10 pc decrease was seen among the respondents terming it ‘weak’, bringing this response to an overall 51 pc. This is an improvement over the September’s survey when 61 pc of those surveyed considered their current condition as ‘weak’. Also there was a three pc increase among the respondents reporting their current financial conditions as ‘strong’ compared to two pc in September. As many as 44 pc, showing an increase of seven pc, defined their condition as ‘in-between’. This was in contrast to 37 pc response to the same question in September.

These new findings have established 30.3 points in the Consumer Confidence Index with an increase of three more points in the current survey. This is against 46 points as in Global Average with China enjoying 69.5 points and India having 64.1 points. A similar survey conducted in December 2021 saw a low of 27.3 points reflected by Pakistani consumers.