Consumer sentiment index 100’breakthrough’… First since January last year
The outlook for the interest rate level rises by 10 points.
Photo = Yonhap News
The consumer sentiment index surpassed 100 for the first time since January last year, recovering to the level before the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19). This is the effect of improving awareness of the economy and households as the corona vaccination started and exports continued to rise.
According to the’March Consumer Trends Survey’ released by the Bank of Korea on the 26th, the Consumer Sentiment Index (CCSI) for March recorded 100.5, up 3.1 points from the previous month. If it exceeds the threshold of 100 (the average value from 2003 to 2019), it means that the economy experienced by consumers is optimistic.
The awareness of the game was improved. The current economic judgment CSI recorded 72, up 9 points from the previous month. The future economic outlook CSI also rose 3 points to 93. The living conditions and consumption expenditure also rose slightly from the previous year. The CSI for the living environment forecast rose 1 point to 95, and the CSI for the consumption expenditure forecast rose 3 points to 107, respectively.
In particular, the CSI of the interest rate level forecast recorded 114, up 10 points from the previous year. It reached the highest level since March 2019. This is because expectations for further declines in interest rates have weakened due to the freeze in the base rate.
The CSI for the employment period also rose 4 points to 84, recovering the pre-corona level. It is the highest since January of last year. It reflected the expectation that the number of recruitments will be expanded than before due to the corona vaccine effect.
However, the household income forecast CSI recorded 96, the same as the previous one. There was no prospect that household income would increase further in the future.
On the other hand, the housing price forecast CSI showed 124, down 5 points from the previous year. As the government announced plans to promote new public housing sites as a way to expand housing supply, expectations for a rise in house prices have weakened.
Eunbit Go, reporter Hankyung.com [email protected]
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