UPDATE - Turkey: Consumer confidence up 6.9% in April

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish consumers' confidence in the economy rose by 6.9% in April, the country's statistical authority announced Monday.

The consumer confidence index stood at 63.5 this month, up over four points compared to March.

The index value is jointly calculated by TurkStat and the Central Bank of Turkey through measurement of consumer tendencies.

In 2018, the index value hovered between 72.7 and 57.6 -- the highest posted in July and the lowest in October.

On nearly 20 economic and financial criteria, consumers’ assessments and expectations for the next 12 months are measured in monthly tendency surveys.

The index is calculated from the survey results on a range of 0-200, with above 100 indicating an optimistic outlook, and below 100 a pessimistic outlook.

In April, the index for general economic situation expectations stood at 82.4, surging 4.8% from 78.6 in March.

"The financial situation expectation of household index -- 78.3 in March -- increased by 5.1% to 82.2 in April," TurkStat said.

Consumers' tendency to save money for the next 12-month period climbed 18.3%, to 26 in April versus 22 in March.

"The number of people unemployed expectation index, which was 58.9 in March, increased by 7.8% to 63.5 in April," the institute said.

The country's statistical authority will release the next survey results on May 21.