Across the Middle East, the consumer confidence level remains very optimistic with positive scores for all five indicators, despite slight declines when compared to the previous edition of the index released six months ago.
Consumers are most optimistic about regular income (81.2 vs. 85.1), employment (79.9 vs. 80.8), economy (79.3 vs. 80.0), quality of life (76.7 vs. 79.9) and stock market (75.2 vs. 79.9). The Middle East’s aggregate score of 78.5 remains higher than that of Asia/Pacific (63.3) and Africa (78.1), as was the case in the previous survey.
In the Middle East, Kuwait (96.8) overtakes Qatar (96.4) as the market with the highest level of consumer confidence, followed by the UAE (94.7), Saudi Arabia (93.3), Oman (87.1), Egypt (54.1) and Lebanon (26.9).
Consumer sentiment in the UAE is at its highest ever with a score of 94.7, according to the latest MasterCard Index of Consumer Confidence.
This coincides with the local equity markets hitting a five-year high amidst an all-around real estate recovery coupled with jobs growth.
Additionally, with the 100-day countdown already underway for the results of Dubai’s Expo 2020 bid, business and consumer sentiment is being buoyed by rising trade and tourism numbers.
Consumers in the UAE are ‘extremely optimistic’ about all five indicators measured in the MasterCard index, a media statement issued by the company on Tuesday said.
When compared to the previous edition of the survey released six months ago, consumers are more optimistic about the economy (96.8 vs. 94.6), employment (96.1 vs. 95.2), regular income (93.1 vs. 84.7) and the stock market (92.8 vs. 86.9). Consumers also remain very optimistic about quality of life (94.5 vs. 95.6), despite a slight decrease in its score when compared to the previous edition of the index, it added.
The latest findings indicate that female respondents are more optimistic than male respondents about the coming months (95.4 vs. 93.9), and that consumers over the age of 30 years (95.4) are more optimistic than younger respondents (92.2).
“Over the past few years, the UAE has firmly positioned itself as an attractive global destination where business, leisure and cosmopolitan living merge. Confidence among UAE consumers has largely been upwards and today we are delighted to announce that it has reached its all-time high,” said Eyad Al Kourdi, UAE country manager, MasterCard.
The MasterCard Index of Consumer Confidence is based on a survey conducted between April 2013 and May 2013 on 12,205 respondents aged 18 – 64 in 27 countries within Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa. This is the 41st survey of consumer confidence conducted since 1993.