Five economic indicators are used, namely economy, employment, stock market, regular income and quality of life.
The index score is calculated with zero as the most pessimistic, 100 as the most optimistic and 50 as neutral. The index and its accompanying reports do not represent MasterCard’s financial performance.
Nigeria remains the most optimistic (95.8), followed by Morocco (79.6) and South Africa (58.7). While overall expectations of Africa’s prospects have fallen 8.3 points to 70.8, respondents are still optimistic about the continent’s outlook.
The country with the lowest consumer sentiment is Kenya, plunging from an optimistic 76.5 to a pessimistic 38.8.
Davies said in Kenya’s case, persistent security concerns culminating in the terrorist attack targeting the Westgate Mall in September 2013 have collapsed local and international business confidence.
“There are growing concerns regarding the economic impact of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which will undoubtedly affect consumer confidence in that region. This may be reflected in Nigeria’s score in future editions of the index,” said Davies.
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“It’s encouraging that South African consumer sentiment for the next six months is neutral-positive. However, the South African consumer confidence level is still off its historic peak of 91.1 points in the second half of 2006.”
The index is based on a survey conducted between July and August 2014. It involved 4 487 banked respondents aged 18 to 64 in Egypt, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.
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