The ASEAN Consumer Index rose by 1.5 points to 69 points in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to a survey conducted by the Financial Times Confidential Research (FTCR), an independent research service from the Financial Times newspaper.
Customers shop at AEON Mall Long Bien Trading Centre in Hanoi, Vietnam (Photo: VNA)
London (VNA) – The ASEAN Consumer Index rose by 1.5 points to 69 points inthe fourth quarter of 2017, according to a survey conducted by the FinancialTimes Confidential Research(FTCR), an independent research service from the Financial Times newspaper.
Thesurvey is based on interviews with 5,000 consumers in the five ASEAN nations ofVietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.
Itshowed faster quarterly growth onaverage in all three components of the index: household income, discretionaryspending and consumer borrowing. Discretionary spending rose faster thanincome, which contributed to the acceleration in regional consumer borrowinggrowth.
The fourth-quarter index rise coincided withstronger GDP expansion among the five ASEAN economies. While GDP growth for thelast quarter has yet to be released, these economies in general have beenexperiencing accelerating growth since the first quarter of2017 after going through a slowdown in 2016.
The ASEAN Household Income Index rose 0.7 pointsto 72.7. Thai consumers were the biggest factor behind the income indeximprovement, contributing just over half of the rise. Malaysians were the only group to report slower incomegrowth during the quarter.
Meanwhile, the ASEAN Discretionary SpendingIndex rose 3.1 points to 69.3, indicating faster growth in non-essentialspending compared with the previous quarter. All five consumer groups reported faster discretionaryspending growth. Thai consumers were thebiggest contributors to the spending index rise, followed by Filipinos.
According to FTCR, the faster discretionaryspending growth relative to household income growth has pushed up borrowingdemand, especially in the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Hence, theConsumer Borrowing Index rose 0.6 points to 65 in the final quarter of2017.-VNA
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Customers shop at AEON Mall Long Bien Trading Centre in Hanoi, Vietnam (Photo: VNA)
