For the fourth consecutive quarter, South Korea suffered the worst consumer confidence levels in the world, according to a survey by market research firm Nielsen, Channel NewsAsia reported. Consumer confidence in Asia’s fourth-biggest economy slipped to 44 points over the January-to-March period, down 2 points on the quarter, the report released on Tuesday showed. The index score was a record low for South Korea since Nielsen started the global survey in 2005, and was way below the global average of 98. For the first quarter of 2016, lingering worries over the domestic economy and job prospects contributed to the waning confidence levels, said Kim Jungyeun, manager at Nielsen Korea. Nearly 20% of the respondents polled cited job security as their biggest worry, while the outlook of the local economy came in as a close second, with 18%. Recessionary sentiment is also on the rise, with 92% of feeling that the country is currently in a state of recession, up 1 percentage point from the previous quarter.
