Turkey's consumer confidence index on rise in March

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Consumers' confidence in the Turkish economy went up in March for the third month in a row, according to Turkey's statistical authority on Wednesday.

The consumer confidence index rose 2.5% month-on-month to 86.7 in March, according to data prepared in cooperation by TurkStat and the Central Bank by measuring consumer tendencies.

In the last two months, the index climbed 4% and 1.5%, respectively after remaining stable in December 2020. Last year, the index value hovered between 78.1 and 82.7.

All sub-indexes contributed positively to the improvement in March's reading, with all having increased.

The financial situation expectation of household index saw the largest rise of 4% to 87.9 in the same period, suggesting that more people were expecting a better financial situation in the year ahead.

The general economic situation expectation index rose 2.5% on a monthly basis to 94.1 in March.

Sub-indexes of the financial situation of household index at present and assessment on spending money on durable goods increased 1.4% and 2%, respectively.

In Turkey, consumers' assessments and expectations in nearly 20 economic and financial categories are measured in monthly tendency surveys.

The consumer confidence index is calculated from these survey results and is evaluated within a range of 0-200, indicating an optimistic outlook when the index is above 100, and a pessimistic one when it is below.