Indicators
South Africa Festive Season Consumer Mood Most Cheery Since 2019
- Index was -6, compared with -17 in same quarter last year
- Reading bodes well for consumer spending for remainder of 2024
Christmas decorations in Melrose Arch, Johannesburg.
Photographer: Luca Sola/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
A South African consumer confidence gauge reached its best festive-season level since 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic struck, signaling spending is likely to be sustained as the year closes out.
The index fell slightly to -6 in the three months through December from -5 in the previous quarter, but was still an improvement on the -17 reading a year earlier, FirstRand Ltd.’s First National Bank said in an emailed statement on Wednesday. That marks an upturn in consumers’ willingness to shop during the holiday season, the lender said.