Omodele Adigun and Chinwendu Obienyi
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revealed that the consumers are optimistic of an improved economy in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2020 and the next 12 months.
This is even as the CBN stated that consumers’ confidence increased with indices of 10.1 and 30.5 points respectively. This was disclosed by the Statistics Department of the apex bank in its Consumer expectations survey’ report for September, which was released at the weekend. The report stated that the positive outlook could be attributed to the expected increase in net household income, and anticipated improvement in Nigeria’s economic conditions and expectations, to save a bit and/or have plenty over savings in the next quarter and the next 12 months.
“Overall buying intention index in the next 12 months stood at 29.7 index points, indicating that most consumers did not intend to buy big-ticket items in the next 12 months.”, the report stated
It added that the buying intention indices for consumer durables, motor vehicles, and houses were below 50 points, which showed that respondents had no plans to make these purchases in the next 12 months.
However, the consumers’ overall confidence outlook dipped in Q3 2020, as consumers were pessimistic in their outlook. It stated, “The index at -21.2 point was 25.0 points lower than the index in the corresponding period of 2019. “Respondents attributed this unfavorable outlook to declining economic conditions, family financial situation, and declining family income.”
The Q3 2020Consumer Expectations Survey (CES) was conducted during the period September 21-30,2020covering a sample size of 2,070 households drawn from 207 Enumeration Areas(EAs) across the country, with a response rate of 99.8 per cent.
Respondents’ distribution by educational attainment showed that 8.8 per cent had university education, 11.8 per cent had higher non-university education, while 29 per cent had senior secondary school education. Respondents with junior secondary and primary school education accounted for 5.3 and 19.7 per cent, respectively,while those with no formal education accounted for the balance of 25.4 per cent.