A report issued by the Gulf Conference Board Center for Economic and Trade Research on the Consumer Confidence Index for the GCC countries for the fourth quarter of 2020, showed that the index increased in the six countries compared to the second quarter of the year, at the beginning of the outbreak of the Corona pandemic.
The Gulf countries were among the top 13 countries, including Bahrain, the Sultanate of Oman and Qatar, which ranked the first three as the highest indicators of consumer confidence in the world, as the index is calculated by surveying consumer opinions in 3 main points, which are job opportunities and personal financial situation and purchasing intentions during the next twelve months.
Kuwait ranked fourth in the Gulf with 123 points, as according to the "Conference Board", the Kuwaiti consumer is spending cautiously, with his optimism for the economy to recover in 2021, but the large budget deficit and high levels of debt may impede the improvement of their confidence.
The report showed that the Gulf governments succeeded to a large extent in containing the concerns about job losses, but job insecurity remains high, revealing that this is a surprise given that job losses have been largely contained so far, while the support policies provided towards jobs and companies are big, especially for citizens.
Source (Al-Rai Newspaper-Kuwait, Edited)
