Consumers upbeat on economy

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian ranks first on the rating of a consumer confidence survey with 86.7 points, followed closely by Malaysia and Singapore with 83 points each and Australia with 82 points.

The MasterIndex survey, carried out twice yearly by MasterCard International, shows that those four nations rank at the top of nine surveyed Asia-Pacific countries, including Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan.

According to the survey, the report of which was made available over the weekend, Indonesians are even more optimistic about their economy, stock market and quality of life than they were in the MasterIndex survey released last June.

The survey, conceived at MasterCard University Asia/Pacific Consumer Research group in Singapore and compiled by Price Waterhouse, put Japan as the only country whose consumer confidence is rated pessimistic with a score of 37.8, virtually unchanged from last April.

Japan has consistently been the lowest scorer since the survey was conducted for the first time two years ago. However, the MasterIndex said the Japanese are more confident about their employment prospects and quality of life these days.

Last year, Indonesia also shared the first rank with Malaysia at 89 points of rating, followed by Singapore at 83, South Korea and Australia at 82 each. (rid)