Turkish consumer confidence index slips in August

By Dilara Zengin

ANKARA

Turkey's consumer confidence index saw a slight decline month-on-month in August, according to Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) data on Wednesday.

The index decreased by 0.3 percent to 71.1 in August from 71.3 in July, TurkStat said.

The consumer confidence index is seen as a vital gauge of the overall health of the economy, indicating people's sentiments about spending their money, which in turn gives clues about economic vitality.

According to the new data, among all sub-indices of the main index, Turkey's general economic situation index was the best performer, increasing by 2.3 percent to 97.9 in August, up from 95.7 in July.

"This increase shows that the number of consumers expecting a better general economic situation in the next 12 months increased compared to the previous month," the report read.

However, the probability of saving index -- indicating people’s expectation of earning enough money to save -- showed a sharpest decline, decreasing by four percent to 22.4 in August from 23.3 in July.

The number of people unemployed expectation index -- a gauge of sentiment about the health of the labor market -- also decreased by 2.6 percent to 72.4 in August.

"This decline stemmed from the decrease in people expecting a fall in the number of unemployed persons in the next 12 months," TurkStat stated.

The financial situation expectation of household index remained same in the month, standing at 91.9 in August.