Consumers in Saudi Arabia have revealed that they are extremely optimistic about the coming 6 months, according to the results of the latest MasterCard Worldwide International's Index of Consumer Confidence. Consumer confidence in Saudi Arabia is at an impressive high, with a score of 98.6 showing further improvement from six months ago (95.1), a year ago (85.0) and even 18 months ago (83.2). In fact, the latest consumer confidence score for the Kingdom is the highest that it has been since 2004 and is significantly higher than markets such as China (78.3), Hong Kong (69.9) and India (75.2). Now in its 19th year, the MasterCard Worldwide Index of Consumer Confidence is the region's most comprehensive and longest running consumer confidence survey. The Index is based on a survey which measures consumer confidence on prevailing expectations in the market for the next six months based on five economic indicators: Economy, Employment, Stock Market, Regular Income and Quality of Life. The Index score is calculated with zero as the most pessimistic, 100 as most optimistic and 50 as neutral. The latest survey was conducted from March to April 2011 and involved 17,620 consumers from 25[1] markets. Data collection was via internet surveys, personal, telephone and Computer Aided Telephone interviews, with the questionnaire translated to the local language wherever appropriate and necessary. The Index and its accompanying reports do not represent MasterCard financial performance. Consumers in Saudi Arabia are most optimistic about the Economy (99.3) and Regular Income (99.2) while they are least optimistic about the Stock Market (96.3). However, all indicators of consumer confidence were rated as being exceptionally positive, including Employment (99.1) and Quality of Life (98.9). The MasterCard survey also revealed that male consumers in Saudi Arabia tend to be marginally more optimistic than female consumers (98.6 vs. 98.4) and that consumers under the age of 30 tend to be slightly more optimistic than consumers over thirty years old (98.6 vs. 98.5). However, confidence levels for all gender and age demographics remain very high at above 98. MasterCard International Index of Consumer Confidence results for the second half of 2011 results indicate that consumer confidence in Saudi Arabia is at a record high and "this is, no doubt, positive news for the Saudi business community," said Raghu Malhotra, general manager, Middle East, MasterCard WorldwideMasterCard Worldwide International. Overall, in the Middle East, consumer confidence has gone up significantly compared to six months ago (83.4 vs. 71.6). Respondents were most optimistic about Regular Income (86.8 vs. 83.0 six months ago) and least optimistic about the Stock Market, even though the latter indicator has increased drastically in the last six months (81.5 vs. 63.2).
