Consumer confidence has risen to 121.7pts (up 1.8pts since January 19/20, 2013) and is now 4.7pts higher than at the same time a year ago.
Roy Morgan say the rise has been driven by an increase in confidence in personal finances over the next year, and economic conditions for Australia in both the short and longer term.
Now 34% (up 3%) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months compared to 25% (down 3%) who expect ‘bad times’ economically.
Australians are also more positive about their personal finances over the next 12 months with 43% (up 2%) saying they expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially while 12% (down 2%) expect to be ‘worse off’ financially (the lowest since January 15/16, 2011).
36% (unchanged) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next five years compared to 15% (down 3%) who expect Australia to have ‘bad times’ economically (the lowest since February 12/13, 2011).
A majority of 58% (down 1%) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items compared to just 14% (down 1%) who say now is a ‘bad time to buy’ major household items.
However, 29% (up 4%) of Australians believe they are ‘worse off” financially than this time last year, compared to 32% (unchanged) who say they are ‘better off’.
Gary Morgan of Roy Morgan research says: “The rise in Consumer Confidence comes after a low level of CPI was released last week by the ABS showing inflation at only 0.2% for the December Quarter — an annual rate of under 1%. The Reserve Bank’s mandate states that inflation in Australia is to average between 2-3% over the course of the business cycle. Clearly the low level of CPI indicates the weakness in the Australian economy and shows that the RBA must cut Australian interest rates at its first meeting for the year next Tuesday.”
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