Indonesians see economic improvement next year

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesians are somewhat confident of the country's economic recovery and are showing an increase in spending, according to a survey released by AC Nielsen on Monday.

The Asia Pacific Consumer Confidence study, carried out in October this year in 12 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, shows that approximately 40 percent of Indonesians believe that the local economy will improve within the next 12 months.

"The sentiment of consumers toward a better economic situation is high, although it is still relatively low compared with other countries in the region," said AC Nielsen Southeast Asia managing director Farquhar Stirling.

He said that the results were quite interesting because, although general elections were scheduled for next year, with some people predicting economic instability Indonesians were tending to be optimistic about economic recovery.

He also added that the recent survey result for Indonesia was still higher compared with last May's 16 percent.

The highest confidence was shown by Indian consumers, at 89 percent, followed by Thailand with 84 percent. Korean and Japanese people both have the lowest confidence in the region, at 31 percent.

The survey also shows that an increase in consumer confidence leads to stronger spending. In Indonesia, the result states that 85 percent of Indonesians will spend their money after they have covered essential living expenses. Nearly 90 percent of consumers in other countries also said that they would rather spend their money than save it or repay debts.

Last May's survey indicated most Indonesian consumers preferred saving spare cash than spending it.

They spend their income mostly on new-technology products, especially the latest electronic gadgets, such as mobile phones, digital cameras and plasma TVs.

Summarizing the survey results, Farquhar said that consumers across the region, including Indonesians, were generally more confident about the economic outlook compared with six months ago.

However, Farquhar said, the recent survey was conducted online via the Internet, not by house-to-house visits as previously. So, he added, the survey might not have represented the views of Indonesians who lived in rural areas and did not have Internet access.

The survey was carried out online on 7,230 consumers in 13 countries within the Asia-Pacific region, including Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Hong Kong.