YEREVAN, December 19. / ARKA /. Armenia’s consumer confidence index (CCI) in the fourth quarter of this year advanced by 0.2 percent to 44.3 when compared to the fourth quarter of 2011, the Central Bank of Armenia told ARKA. It said when compared with the third quarter of 2012, consumer confidence index slashed by 4.6%.
Current conditions index in the fourth quarter of 2012 dropped by 1.1% from a year before to 39.3 percent. The sub-index used to assess changes in income grew by 1.4 percent. The sub-index used to assess large purchases dropped by 3.2% year-on-year to 50.2, and the sub-index assessing current economic conditions fell by 0.8 % to 26.5.
According to the report, future conditions index increased by 1.3% to 57.4, mainly to rise in the sub-index used to assess anticipated large purchases in the next quarter. This sub-index compared to the fourth quarter of last year grew by 6.7% to 57.4.
The sub-index used to assess expectations about changes in the level of income decreased by 2%, while the sub-index that assesses changes in family employment expectations declined by 1.7%.
The Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) is an indicator designed to measure consumer confidence, which is defined as the degree of optimism on the state of the economy that consumers are expressing through their activities of savings and spending. Since early 2005 the Central Bank of Armenia has been conducting quarterly surveys of non-financial, financial institutions and households to assess changes in current economic conditions compared to the previous period, to assess the economic expectations of the subjects under study and based on survey data to calculate and publish composite economic indexes. The surveys are conducted over the Internet, telephone, letter and fax. Based on the survey results indices of business environment, economic activity and consumer confidence are calculated on a 100-point scale. The score above 50 shows high activity and below 50 a low activity, and 50 a steady-state condition. -0-