According to the data provided by Info Sapiens «Consumer confidence of Ukrainians», that is for support of Dragon Capital, the Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) equals 65.7 in January, which is 3.4 points higher than the indicator in December 2018. Indices of Expectations of the Country’s Economic Development over the next year and next five years experienced the most significant changes.
In January 2019, the Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) equaled 65.7 that is 3.4 points higher than the indicator in December 2018.
Index of the Current Situation (ICS) increased by 2.1 points to the level of 62.3. The components of this index have changed as follows:
- – index of Current Personal Financial Standing (х1) equaled 52.2, which is 3.3 points higher than the indicator in December 2018;
- – index of Propensity to Consume (х5) increased by 0.8 p. and reached the indicator of 72.5.
In January, Index of Economic Expectations (ІЕE) increased by 4.3 points to the level of 67.9. The components of this index have changed as follows:
- – index of Expected Changes in Personal Financial Standing (х2) somewhat decreased by 0.2 points comparing to the previous month and equals 61.5;
- – index of Expectations of the Country’s Economic Development Over the Next Year (х3) increased by 7.2 points and equals 64.5;
- – index of Expectations of the Country’s Economic Development over the Next 5 Years (х4) increased and reached 77.7, which is 6.0 points higher than in December 2018.
In January, the indicator of Index of Expectations of Changes in Unemployment equaled 128.9, which is 5.1 points lower than previous month. Meanwhile, Index of Inflationary Expectations somewhat decreased and reached 183.0, which is 3.5 points lower than in December. The expectations of Ukrainians regarding the hryvna’s exchange rate in the coming three months have improved: Index of Devaluation Expectations decreased by 7.0 points and reached the level of 151.5.
«Consumers` optimism has increased in the first month of 2019. The Consumer Confidence Index reached its 2018 maximum which was recorded in June 2018. The Index increase in January was caused by optimistic expectations of presidential elections, Info Sapiens research shows, and also by the salary growth which happened in December 2018. Last month the index of real salary almost reached the pre-crisis level of December 2013. At the same time, despite the improvement of personal financial standing and high expectations of economic development this year, propensity to consume and expectations of personal financial dynamics stay the same as last month.» - Info Sapiens analysts comment.
How the indices are calculated
The survey «Consumer confidence in Ukraine» was conducted by GfK Ukraine since June 2000. From 2019 this project is provided by Info Sapiens. From January 2009 consumer confidence survey is conducted on a monthly basis.
In Ukraine, the Consumer Confidence Index is determined through a random survey of domestic households. The poll involves 1,000 individuals aged 16+. (Up to April 2014 the poll involved 1,000 respondents aged 15-59). A representative sample is selected by gender and age, also by type and size of settlement. In April 2014 Autonomous Republic of Crimea was excluded from the sample of consumer confidence research in Ukraine. The margin of error is 3.2%. The survey is carried out on 1-15th every month. To define the CCI, respondents are asked these questions:
- 1. How has the financial standing of your family changed over the last six months?
- 2. How do you think your family’s financial standing will change in the next six months?
- 3. Looking at economic conditions in the country as a whole, do you think the next 12 months will be good or bad?
- 4. Looking at the next five years, will they be good ones or bad ones for the country’s economy?
- 5. In terms of large purchases for your home, do you think now is generally a good time or a bad time to make such purchases?
- • index of Current Personal Financial Standing (x1);
- • index of Expected Changes in Personal Financial Standing (x2);
- • index of Expected Economic Conditions in the Country Over the Next Year (x3);
- • index of Expected Economic Conditions in the Country Over the Next 5 Years (x4);
- • index of Propensity to Consume (x5).
- • consumer Confidence Index (CCI) as the arithmetic average of indices x1–x5;
- • index of the Current Situation (ICS) as the arithmetic average of indices x1 and x5;
- • index of Economic Expectations (IEE) as the arithmetic average of indices x2, x3, and x4.
- 1. Do you think that within next 12 months the number of unemployed (people who do not have job and are looking for work) will increase, will remain roughly the same, or will decrease?
- 2. How do you think that prices for major consumer goods and services will change in the next 1–2 months?
- 3. How do you think the USD value will change towards the UAH value during the next 3 months?
Each of these questions is related to a corresponding index:
Indices are constructed thus: the share of negative answers is deducted from the share of positive answers, and 100 is added to this difference in order to eliminate negative values. On the basis of these five indices, three aggregate indices are calculated:
Index values range from 0 to 200. The index equals 200 when all respondents positively assess the economic situation. It totals 100 when the shares of positive and negative assessments are equal. Indices of less than 100 indicate the prevalence of negative assessments. To determine the Index of Expected Changes in Unemployment (IECU), the Index of Inflationary Expectations (IIE) and the Index of Devaluation Expectations (IDE), the respondents are asked these three questions:
The IECU, the IIE and the IDE are calculated thus: the share of answers that indicate a decrease of unemployment/inflation/devaluation is subtracted from the share of answers that indicate the growth of unemployment/inflation/devaluation, and 100 is added to the difference to eliminate negative values. The values of indices can vary from 0 to 200. The index totals 200 when all residents expect an increase in unemployment/inflation/devaluation.