UAE Consumer Confidence Peaks: MasterCard Index

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 Dubai, 27 August 2013 – MasterCard has revealed the results of the latest MasterCard Index^TM of Consumer Confidence, which indicates that consumer sentiment in the UAE is at its highest ever, with a score of 94.7.  

Consumers in the UAE are ‘extremely optimistic’ about all five indicators measured in the Index. When compared to the previous edition of the survey released six months ago, consumers are more optimistic about the Economy (96.8 vs. 94.6), Employment (96.1 vs. 95.2), Regular Income (93.1 vs. 84.7) and the Stock Market (92.8 vs. 86.9). Consumers also remain very optimistic about Quality of Life (94.5 vs. 95.6), despite a slight decrease in its score when compared to the previous edition of the Index.  

The latest findings indicate that female respondents are more optimistic than male respondents about the coming months (95.4 vs. 93.9), and that consumers over the age of 30 years (95.4) are more optimistic than younger respondents (92.2).

“Over the past few years, the UAE has firmly positioned itself as an attractive global destination where business, leisure and cosmopolitan living merge. Confidence among UAE consumers has largely been upwards and today we are delighted to announce that it has reached its all-time high. Its visionary leadership and ambitious plans as well as the promising growth in the key sectors such as tourism, logistics and aviation, and the rising asset valuations have inspired confidence among the country’s residents and we are equally positive in our outlook for the future,” commented Eyad Al-Kourdi, UAE country manager, MasterCard.

Across the Middle East, the consumer confidence level remains very optimistic with positive scores for all five indicators, despite slight declines when compared to the previous edition of the Index released six months ago. Consumers are most optimistic about Regular Income (81.2 vs. 85.1), Employment (79.9 vs. 80.8), Economy (79.3 vs. 80.0), Quality of Life (76.7 vs. 79.9) and Stock Market (75.2 vs. 79.9). The Middle East’s aggregate score of 78.5 remains higher than that of Asia/Pacific (63.3) and Africa (78.1), as was the case in the previous survey.  

In the Middle East, Kuwait (96.8) overtakes Qatar (96.4) as the market with the highest level of consumer confidence, followed by the UAE (94.7), Saudi Arabia (93.3), Oman (87.1), Egypt (54.1) and Lebanon (26.9).

The MasterCard Index of Consumer Confidence (“Index”) is based on a survey conducted between April 2013 and May 2013 on 12,205 respondents aged 18 – 64 in 27 countries within Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa. This is the 41st survey of Consumer Confidence conducted since 1993. 

The Index and its accompanying reports do not represent MasterCard’s financial performance

Middle East Consumer Confidence Results

Source: MasterCard Index of Consumer Confidence