Turkey: Consumer confidence index at 60.9 in July

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's consumer confidence index fell month-on-month to 60.9 in July, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) on Thursday.

The index, jointly calculated by TurkStat and the Central Bank of Turkey through the measurement of consumer tendencies, dropped by 2.7% this month, from 62.6 in June.

All sub-indices, except for the reading on the financial situation expectation of households, slipped compared to last month, the TurkStat data showed.

The financial situation expectation of households index rose 0.9% on a monthly basis, suggesting that more people were expecting a better financial situation in the coming year.

Tracking consumers' tendencies to save money over the next 12 months, the probability of saving index posted the largest monthly decline with 14% compared to last month.

The index for consumer expectations for a better general economic situation in the coming 12 months decreased 3.9% from June to July.

The number of people unemployed expectation index fell 1.7% during the same period as people are more pessimistic about finding jobs.

Consumer assessments and expectations in nearly 20 economic and financial categories are measured in monthly tendency surveys.

The consumer confidence index, calculated from survey results, is evaluated within the range of 0-200, indicating optimism when the index is above 100 and pessimism when below.