Consumer confidence index down in February

ISTANBUL-Anadolu Agency

The confidence of Turkish consumers in the economy fell 2.7 percent this month, Turkey's statistical authority said on Feb. 20.

On a monthly basis, the index was valued at 57.3 in February, down over one point versus the previous month, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) announced.

In January, the consumer confidence index rose slightly 0.1 percent to 58.8 versus December 2019.

The index value is jointly calculated by TÜİK and the Central Bank of Turkey through the measurement of consumer tendencies.

On nearly 20 economic and financial criteria, consumers' assessments and expectations for the next 12 months are measured in monthly tendency surveys.

The index is calculated from the survey results on a range of 0-200, with above 100 indicating an optimistic outlook, and below 100 a pessimistic outlook.

In February, the index for general economic situation expectations fell to 75.9 from 77.4 in January.

The financial situation expectation of household index dropped 3.4 percent from the previous month to stand at 76.8 in February.

The institute said: "The probability of saving index in the next 12-month period which was 21.6 in January increased by 4.2 percent to 22.5 in February."

The number of people unemployed expectation index also fell 5.3 percent to stand at 53.8 month-on-month in February.

In 2019, the index value hovered between 63.5 and 55.3, with the highest in April and the lowest in May.

The country's statistical authority will release the next survey results on March 23.