Turkey's consumer confidence index decreases

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's consumer confidence index slipped month-on-month in October, according to Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) data on Monday.

The index dropped by 2 percent to 67.3 in October from 68.7 in September, TurkStat said.

The consumer confidence index is seen as a vital gauge of the overall health of the economy, indicating people's sentiments about spending their money, which in turn gives clues about economic vitality.

According to the new data, among all sub-indices of the main index, the probability of saving index -- indicating people’s expectation of earning enough money to save -- was the best performer.

"The probability of saving index increased by 4.2 percent from 20.2 in September to 21 in October," TurkStat said.

The number of people unemployed expectation index -- a gauge of sentiment about the health of the labor market -- also rose by 0.6 percent month-on-month to 70.9 in October.

However, Turkey's general economic situation expectation showed the sharpest decline, decreasing by 4.5 percent to 90.4 in October from 94.7 in September.

"This decline shows that number of consumers expecting a better general economic situation in the next 12 months decreased compared to the previous month," it said.

The financial situation expectation of household index saw a decrease of 2.9 percent in the month compared with the previous year, standing at 87 in October.