Consumer confidence in Hong Kong dropped to a three-year low in the third quarter amid a gloomy global economic outlook, according to a recent survey.
The city’s confidence index dived 15 points quarter-on-quarter from 104 to 89 points, according to international market research consultancy Nielsen. The lowest level since the second quarter of 2009 when it fell to 79 points, the index contrasted with the global average, which saw a one-point increase to 92 in the third quarter. China’s index was 106, also a one-point quarter-on-quarter increase.
The Nielsen survey, which is conducted every quarter, polls more than 25,000 consumers in more than 50 countries and regions around the world to gauge their economic outlook and confidence in the job market, status of their personal finances and readiness to spend. It is not known how many respondents were from Hong Kong.
Oliver Rust, Nielsen Hong Kong’s managing director, attributed the fall in consumer confidence largely to the lingering Euro debt crisis and the slow recovery of the US economy.
The economic outlook remained the top concern, said 39 per cent of the city’s respondents – 2 percentage points higher than in the previous quarter. The two other major concerns among locals were rising food prices, at 29 per cent, and job security, at 21 per cent.
Only 35 per cent of respondents in Hong Kong said they were optimistic about job prospects, a sharp drop from 50 per cent in the second quarter.