Africa: Consumer Confidence Reaches All-Time High in May

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Africa’s first monthly consumer confidence index (KIC Score) reached an all-time high at +14 in May, a 4 percentage increase from April. At this level, it means that the number of consumers who are optimistic is slightly higher than those who are pessimistic (a score of zero implies equal numbers in both camps). With a maximum of 100 and a minimum of -100, the current KIC level indicates that economic confidence continues to be positive in the countries’ urban centers polled.

Consumers remain bullish in future economic prospects

Consumers continue to be a little bit concerned with the current economic conditions with the sub-metric remaining negative at -6. Despite the negative sentiment with current economic conditions, consumer optimism about future economic prospects as shown by the sub-index metric remained positive at +22 in May.

Women & men are equally optimistic

Interestingly, women are slightly a bit more optimistic than men (+14 vs +13) and younger people (aged 29 and younger) have the highest confidence measure (+16) compared to +14 for people 30 years and older.

Kenya reaches an all-time high in May

The May readings of the KIC score range from -10 in Tanzania to +30 in Ghana. In 3 out of 7 countries, consumer confidence dropped in May with the main drivers being Cameroon and Tanzania.

KASI KIC Score’s 3394 sample survey of individuals in 7 urban centers in Africa was carried out between May 18, 2018 – June 5, 2018.

The KASI Insight Consumer Confidence Score (KIC SCORE) is a composite index compiled from a seven-question survey that runs monthly via our consumer polls in the countries covered. The data output is based on fresh, randomly selected representative sample of city dwellers aged 18-64.

Released the first week of every month, the KASI Insight Consumer Confidence Index (KIC Score) provides a focused view on consumer perceptions in seven African urban centers (Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Tanzania) where most spending in the continent is concentrated. The survey provides a simple measure of consumers’ optimism about their economic prospects in the near term and attitude towards making major purchasing decisions.