Asia Pacific leading global confidence

FAIRFAX ILLUSTRATION

HAPPY DAYS: New research shows the Asia Pacific and Latin America regions are leading the world in consumer confidence.

Relevant offers

Consumer confidence is strongest in emerging Asia Pacific and Latin America, while most Europeans remain edgy on the pace of their economic recovery and the euro zone debt crisis, a global survey showed on Thursday.

Consumer sentiment was highest in India, followed by Indonesia and Norway, according to the survey conducted by the New York-based Nielsen Company in March.

Globally, the Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index averaged a reading of 92 points in the first quarter, six points higher than in the third quarter of 2009 and the highest level since the third quarter of 2007.

All regions saw improvement in consumer confidence, but the gap in the pace of economic recovery widened between the booming Asia Pacific and Latin American countries compared to the sluggish recovery in the United States and western Europe.

"Asia Pacific consumers who were among the first to cut back drastically on discretionary spending 18 months ago are now confident enough to spend their way out of recession," said Venkatesh Bala, chief economist of Nielsen's Cambridge Group.

In China, consumer confidence rebounded to 107 points from 101 six months ago, just one point below its record of 108 in the first quarter of 2005.

"Key economic indicators in China all point to a continued strong recovery in 2010," said Chris Morley, a managing director of Nielsen.

"While perceptions of local job prospects and the state of personal finances are improving in 2010, spending intentions are less optimistic due to rapidly rising urban housing costs and a strong saving tradition," Morley said.

The survey of more than 27,000 consumers in 55 countries, showed consumer confidence declined in seven of 28 European countries, with Greece reporting the largest fall.

"The Greek debt crisis has delivered a hard blow to Greek consumers and they're increasingly pessimistic for the future - they have been dealt a double whammy," Nielsen vice president James Russo said.

In North America, nearly 60 percent of Canadians saw good or excellent job prospects over the next 12 months, compared with 23 percent of Americans.

Top 10 markets where consumer confidence is highest (by index points):

                                 Q12010   Q32009

1. India                        127         120

2. Indonesia                 116         115

3. Norway                     115          110

4. Philippines                111           107

5. Australia                   111           106

6. Saudi Arabia              108           79

7. Brazil                        108           108

8. China                       107            101

9. Singapore                  107            96

10. United Arab Emirates  103           102

- Reuters