https://www.polity.org.za
Deepening Democracy through Access to Information
Home / Audio / Audio Articles RSS ← Back
Africa|Financial|System
Africa|Financial|System
africa|financial|system
Close

Email this article

separate emails by commas, maximum limit of 4 addresses

Sponsored by

Close

Article Enquiry

S Africa consumer confidence recovers to pre-pandemic levels, survey shows

Close

Embed Video

S Africa consumer confidence recovers to pre-pandemic levels, survey shows

Consumer
Photo by Reuters

17th September 2024

By: Reuters

SAVE THIS ARTICLE      EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

Font size: -+

South Africa's consumer confidence recovered further in the third quarter to its best since 2019, helped by improved willingness to spend and hopes of an interest rate cut in September, survey data released on Tuesday showed.

The consumer confidence index (CCI), sponsored by First National Bank (FNB) and compiled by the Bureau for Economic Research (BER), improved to minus 5 points in the quarter from minus 10 in the previous three months.

Advertisement

"A confluence of positive developments has bolstered the confidence levels of South Africa's more affluent consumers over the last six months," FNB Chief Economist Mamello Matikinca-Ngwenya said.

The central bank is due to announce its rate decision on Thursday, with economists expecting a 25-basis-point cut as inflation slows, according to a Reuters poll.

Advertisement

Besides the deceleration in inflation, the formation of the government of national unity, the absence of loadshedding, a stronger rand exchange rate and substantial fuel price declines have also contributed to improving consumer confidence.

"Moreover, the implementation of the two-pot retirement system on September 1 now allows consumers access to a portion of their retirement savings, which will no doubt hearten households experiencing financial distress," Matikinca-Ngwenya said.

However, while confidence among high-income and middle-income households improved, low-income households showed weakness as the lack of pension funds and debt that is tied to the prime interest rate minimises the impact of the two-pot policy and possible rate cuts.

EMAIL THIS ARTICLE      SAVE THIS ARTICLE

To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here

Comment Guidelines

About

Polity.org.za is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Engineering News
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa

Read more

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Polity.org.za is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options

Email Registration Success

Thank you, you have successfully subscribed to one or more of Creamer Media’s email newsletters. You should start receiving the email newsletters in due course.

Our email newsletters may land in your junk or spam folder. To prevent this, kindly add newsletters@creamermedia.co.za to your address book or safe sender list. If you experience any issues with the receipt of our email newsletters, please email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za