Poll: Latest consecutive increase in consumer confidence in Bulgaria
A regular three-monthly poll by the National Statistical Institute (NSI) has found that consumer confidence in Bulgaria in October 2023 improved compared with July, the fourth consecutive poll to find an increase.
The NSI said that in October 2023, the total consumer confidence indicator increased by 3.3 percentage points in comparison with July.
Among Bulgaria’s urban population, the increase was 0.5 percentage points, while for the rural population, it went down by 9.8 percentage points.
In July 2023, the consumer confidence indicator was 3.2 percentage points higher than in April, while in April it had increased by 4.2 percentage points compared with January, when it had increased by four percentage points compared with October 2022.
The October 2023 poll found that consumers’ opinions about the financial situation of their households over the past 12 months and their expectations about the coming 12 months remained positive.
Consumers saw a certain positive change in the general economic situation in Bulgaria over the past 12 months, the NSI said.
The expectations of the people living in the villages are that this tendency will continue over the next 12 months, as opposed to the urban population, which is slightly more negative than it was three months earlier.
Consumers held the view that over the past 12 months, there has been an increase of consumer prices, and their inflation expectations about the next 12 months had strengthened.
As regards unemployment in the country over the next 12 months, pessimism had risen, with the opinions of both the urban and rural population shifting towards more negative expectations.
The October 2023 poll found a slight deterioration in views about spending on major purchases of durable good, though consumers’ attitudes to doing so in the coming 12 months were favourable, the NSI said.
(Photo: Carsten Gueth/freeimages.com)
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