Despite global and regional economic challenges Saudi Arabia's consumer confidence remained optimistic for the first half of 2009, according to the latest MasterCard Worldwide Index of Consumer Confidence. Raghu Malhotra, area business head for MasterCard Worldwide said, at a press conference in Riyadh, the Kingdom's consumer confidence was slightly lower compared to the second half of 2008 however overall results showed that consumers were still optimistic about regular income, employment, the economy, and quality of life for the six months ahead. He said 91 percent of the people surveyed said they rather save their money for dining and entertainment followed by 70 percent on children's education and 60 percent would save to buy property to upgrade their retired future lives. The MasterCard Worldwide Index of Consumer Confidence and MasterCard Worldwide Index of Consumer Purchasing Priorities targeting 3,200 consumers surveyed between Oct. 14 and Nov. 11, 2008 based on consumer surveys conducted by MasterCard across six markets in the Middle East. Roughly 72 percent of consumers remained optimistic about the outlook for the next six months; less so than they were in the preceding period 80.1 percent in 2008. The drop in consumer confidence was reflected mostly in the areas of Stock Market, where consumers' confidence dropped to 40.3 versus 51.6 percent a period ago, and employment, which dropped to 79.5 percent from 91.8 percent a period ago. Consumer confidence also decreased from 85 percent to 71.9 percent. Confidence in the quality of life dropped to 81.7 percent and could be compared with 82.3 a period ago while regular income fell 88.8 to 90.1 percent for the past period compared to the second half of 2008. Kuwait hit a high with its current Index score of 96.6 and topped the list of consumer confidence in the region. Its score has increased from a period ago 89.4, a year ago 93.3, and is more than the market's historical average of 92.1, Malhotra said. A majority of consumers in the Middle East did not expect predictions of high inflation to drastically affect their spending, an idea echoed by consumers. Meanwhile the same sentiments were felt here with a majority of consumers not planning on cutting back on their expenses.
