Businesses and consumers’ confidence is expected to increase in the month of July, according to a latest report by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The apex bank’s Business Expectation Survey (BES) report shows that in May, firms’ confidence in the macro economy stood at 27.3 index points and is expected to rise by 35.9 basis points to 63.2 index points this month.
It stated: “At 27.3 index points, respondents expressed optimism on the overall Confidence Index (CI) on the macro economy in the month of June 2019. The business outlook for July 2019 showed greater confidence on the macro economy with 63.2 index points.
“The optimism on the macro economy in the current month was driven by the opinion of respondents from services sector (14.9 points), industrial (9.8 points), wholesale/retail trade (2.0 points) and construction (0.7 points) sectors.
“Whereas the major drivers of the optimism for next month were services (36.0 points), industrial (20.5 points), wholesale/retail trade (5.1 points) and construction (1.6 points) sectors.” In its Consumer Expectation Survey (CES) report for the second quarter of 2019 (Q2’19), the CBN noted that consumers also expect a positive outlook for the economy courtesy of increase in net household income, improvement in Nigeria’s economic conditions and expectations to save in the next 12 months.
The report stated: “The consumers’ overall confidence outlook moderated in Q2’19, as fewer consumers were optimistic in their outlook. The index at 1.2 points was 7.5 points higher than the index in the corresponding period of 2018.
“Respondents attributed this favourable outlook to improved family income and family financial situation. The consumer outlooks for the next quarter and next 12 months were positive at 20.9 and 30.5 points, respectively.
“This outlook could be attributed to the expected increase in net household income, an anticipated improvement in Nigeria’s economic conditions and expectations to save a bit and/or have plenty over savings in the next 12 months.”
On Nigerians attitude to prices of goods and services, the apex banks’ Inflation Attitudes Survey (IAS) report for Q2’19 showed that Nigerians expect prices of goods and services to rise by 3.0 percent in the next 12 months.
