Recently, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) published its quarterly Consumer Expectations Survey (CES) report for Q3-18. The survey which provides consumer assessments of the economic situation, as well as their intentions and expectations for the future, indicated that the overall outlook of consumers was positive over the period as more consumers were optimistic in their outlook.
The overall consumer confidence index rebounded to 1.5 points in Q3-18 relative to -6.5 points and -10.5 points recorded in Q2-18 and Q3-17 respectively. Also, the consumer outlook for Q4-18 and the next 12 months was positive standing at 24.7 points and 30.1 points respectively. However, the majority of consumers nationwide believe that the next 12 months would not be an ideal time to purchase bigticket items like motor vehicles and houses & lots. Elsewhere, most of the respondents are expecting the naira to appreciate, inflation rate to rise, and borrowing rate to decline, in the next one year.
Remarkably, the CBN noted that the renewed confidence in the economy could be attributed to the expected rise in net household income, anticipated improvement in the nation’s economic atmosphere and expectations of increased savings over the next one year. In our opinion, while the outlook is positive, the perceived expectation of a rise in the inflation rate would remain a concern for the CBN.
UNITED CAPITAL RESEARCH
