Israeli consumer confidence index in August 2016 stood at -15%, down from -11% the month before, but on a positive trend since October 2015, when it stood at -25%, Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics announced Sunday. Consumer Confidence in Israel averaged -22.46 from 2011 until 2016, reaching an all-time high of -11.30 in July of 2016 and a record low of -38.47 in September of 2012.
Israel’s consumer confidence is among the lowest in the OECD countries, but in most of these countries, other than in Sweden, Denmark and Finland, consumer confidence has been negative. This includes Germany and the UK.
The reason cited for low consumer confidence in Israel is the lack of attractive and reliable savings and investments programs.
However, in August 2016, according to the CBS, the relative consumer confidence index stood at 112, showing a trend of improvement since June 2013, when the index stood at 41.
According to the CBS, in Israel, the Consumer Confidence indicator measures consumers’ expectations about changes in their household financial situation; about Israel’s general economic situation; about unemployment levels; and about their household saving plans over the next 12 months. The indicator is calculated based on the combination of responses to 4 questions presented to a sample of 759 people ages 21 and older. Consumer confidence is measured on a scale of -100 to +100, where -100 indicates an extreme lack of confidence, 0 means neutral and +100 stands for extreme confidence.