SA consumer confidence plunges

Consumer confidence levels in South Africa has plunged to -25 in the second quarter of 2022 as the local and global economic outlook sours in the wake of spiking inflation and the fallout from the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

This is according to the latest FNB/BER Consumer Confidence Index (CCI), published on Wednesday.

The CCI reading is the worse in three decades, barring the initial Covid-19 hard lockdown period in the second quarter of 2020.

“Having already slipped from -9 to -13 index points during the first quarter of 2022, the FNB/BER CCI plunged to -25 in the second quarter of 2022. Bar the CCI reading of -33 in the second quarter of 2020 – when the sudden outbreak of the COVID pandemic and subsequent implementation of level 5 lockdown pummelled sentiment – the current reading is the lowest in more than 3 decades,” FNB notes in a statement.

“Whereas official data shows that the growth in real consumer spending remained robust [3.2% year-on-year] during the first quarter of 2022, the dramatic deterioration in consumer sentiment now signals a marked slowdown in consumer spending in coming months,” it warns.

“The remarkable collapse of the CCI during the second quarter of 2022 can be ascribed to a major deterioration in the economic outlook sub-index of the CCI [from -18 to -39] and a complete turnabout in the household financial prospects sub-index [from +8 to -5].”

“The index measuring the appropriateness of the present time to buy durable goods [for example vehicles, furniture, household appliances and electronic goods] also edged down [from -28 to -32], indicating that consumers consider the present as an inappropriate time to purchase durable goods,” the latest CCI report notes.

	20Q1	20Q2	20Q3	20Q4	21Q1	21Q2	21Q3	21Q4	22Q1	22Q2
Overall FNB/BER CCI	-9	-33	-23	-12	-9	-13	-10	-9	-13	-25
Economic outlook	-16	-21	-23	-12	-5	-14	-14	-12	-18	-39
Household financial outlook	14	-13	-2	6	10	10	12	14	8	-5
Suitability of the present time to buy durable goods	-26	-64	-44	-30	-32	-36	-29	-30	-28	-32