Analysis of the Consumer Confidence Index by Smith Institute shows that the lightening rod of public pessimism is the assessment of the current economic situation. 77.7% of respondents believe that the current economic situation is poor, and 45.8% believe that it will worsen over the next six months. However, only 21.5% of respondents believe that their personal economic situation will worsen over the next six months.
As for future private consumption, trend figures for the Consumer Confidence Index for the past six months indicate a further drop in private consumption.
I guess when you bang people over and over on the head, you shouldn’t expect them to be optimistic, and the latest figures show that is exactly what has happened in Israel. Israeli consumer confidence dropped to its lowest level since 2004, and chances are good that the trend will continue.
According to the Jpost.com: “The monthly
Consumer Confidence Index compiled by Bank Hapoalim and TNS, the global marketing information group, dropped in February by 10 points to a level of 111.3 after rising by 7.9 points in January. “Following a surprising increase in January, the index, impacted by the worsening economic climate, last month fell back down below the December level,” Bank Hapoalim economists said in a report Monday. “The decline in the index is consistent with recent data showing that the economy is falling into a recession. “The index showed that the greatest fear of consumers is the situation of the job market; the rate of surveyed who think that there are few available positions reached a high.”
With more and more companies announcing layoffs, and no political leadership, look for consumer confidence to continue to crumble.
