Consumer morale improves for second consecutive month

ANKARA

The consumer confidence index increased by 2.4 percent month-on-month in September, after inching up 0.6 percent in August.

The index climbed from 76.4 last month to 78.2 this month, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) showed on Sept. 20.

Any figure above the 100 mark indicates optimism among consumers.

The sub-index measuring households’ assessments of their current financial situation rose 2.8 percent, slowing from the 4.5 percent increase recorded in August.

The monthly increase in the index of households’ financial expectations in the next 12 months quickened slightly from 0.9 percent last month to 1 percent in September.

The index of consumers’ expectations regarding the general economic situation in the next 12 months surged 4.2 percent in September, after rising only 1 percent in the previous month.

Separate data from the Interbank Card Center (BKM) showed that credit card payments soared 83 percent in August from a year ago to 1.19 trillion Turkish Liras.

The number of transactions with credit cards grew 15 percent annually to 927.4 million liras.

There were 126 million credit cards in use in Türkiye as of August, pointing to a 13 percent increase from the same month of last year.

Payments with debit cards increased 48 percent last month from a year ago to 200.4 billion liras, while pre-paid card payments were up 104 percent annually to 27.8 billion liras, according to BKM data.