The Malaysian consumer confidence was stable at the start of the first quarter of 2016 with 79 percentage points, according to the latest Nielsen Global Survey of Consumer Confidence and Spending Intentions.
Nielsen said on Tuesday Malaysia maintained its ranking as 36th most confident country in the first quarter of 2016 (unchanged from last quarter). The average global consumer confidence index (CCI) is 98 pp. Consumer confidence levels above and below a baseline of 100 indicate degrees of optimism and pessimism, Yahoo reported.
In the latest online survey, confidence levels in Southeast Asia continue to remain resilient with four out of six countries in the region scoring above the 100 pp mark.
The Philippines (119 pp), Indonesia (117), Vietnam (109) and Thailand (105) are the bright spots in the region’s growing and emerging market as they retain their titles as the top 10 most confident countries globally while Singapore scored 88 pp.
According to Nielsen, the economy and job security remained the top concerns of Malaysian consumers.
“While the nation’s fiscal status (52% compared to 50% in prior quarter) continues to top the list of major concerns among Malaysian consumers, nearly a quarter of the respondents have cited that job security is now their second top worry (22%). Seven in 10 Malaysians feel that the local job prospects is not so good, even bad over the next 12 months (70% compared to 64% in previous quarter),” Nielsen Malaysia country manager Richard Hall said, adding that recessionary sentiments among Malaysians continued to remain high.
