Singapore's consumer confidence up in Q3: survey
By Mok Fei Fei, 938LIVE | Posted: 16 November 2009 1210 hrs

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SINGAPORE: A survey by research group The Nielsen Company found that consumer sentiment here improved by 9 points to 96 in the third quarter this year.

Singaporeans were also more upbeat compared to the rest of the world, with the Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index at 86 points.

And even though Singapore has officially emerged from recession in the second quarter this year, consumers are still in recovery mode.

Among the respondents here, 59 per cent said the country was still in recession, 20 points less than the 79 per cent who thought so in the previous three months.

Some 53 per cent of consumers here also described local job prospects as good or excellent in the next 12 months, up from the previous quarter's 34 per cent.

When it comes to financial matters, 53 per cent of Singaporean consumers felt positive about the current state of their personal finance, as opposed to 46 per cent in the June survey.

Similarly, Singaporeans were also less worried about the economy and job security, which were their two key concerns back in the second quarter.

The Nielsen Company said on Monday the surge in confidence signifies a return to positive territory and demonstrates that the tide has turned.

The survey found that India, Indonesia and Norway continued to top the global rankings for the most confident nations. Conversely, the most pessimistic nations were Latvia and Japan.

The survey of 30,500 Internet users in 54 countries was conducted between September and October.


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