Egypt consumer confidence reaches 85 points in Q1 2018

CAIRO – 4 July 2018: The Egyptian consumer confidence index increased one point in the first quarter of 2018, recording 85 points, compared to the previous quarter, according to Nielsen.

Nielsen added in a press release that the confidence index also jumped 21 points, compared to the fourth quarter of 2016 when the country floated its currency.

In November 2016, the Egyptian government floated its currency, losing around 50 percent of its value, as a part of an economic reform program.

The release also sees that the decline of inflation helped consumers to buy their day-to-day essentials, which helped in restoring some growth to the market.

The annual consumer price inflation slipped to 11.4 percent in May 2018, from 13.1 percent in the previous month; additionally, the annual core inflation rate declined to 11.1 percent in May 2018 from 11.6 percent in April 2018.

Core inflation discounts or strips out certain categories that are considered more volatile.
Nielsen referred to its quarterly report “Quarter by Numbers (Q1 2018)", revealing that the volume of sales in the fast moving consumer goods in Egypt accelerated 10 percentage points.

"Quarter by Numbers" (QBN) is a quarterly report that covers 62 countries across five regions, scanning these markets and reporting the latest consumer insights while diving into the FMCG landscapes.

“Not only was the jump in volume incredible, the Egyptian FMCG market volume growth shifted from negative figures to positive,” Managing Director of Nielsen North Africa & Levant, Tamer el-Araby said.

“This is resulting from a combined effect of decreased inflation coupled with hefty promotions, consequently easing affordability,” Araby added.

He noted: “For the first time since 2016, there are signs of renewed hope in the stability and purchases, which are largely driven by the sense of security that Egyptians are feeling towards the state of their personal finances over the next 12 months.”

Nielsen clarified that respondents were optimistic about their job prospects in Q1 of 2018 as 38 percent believed they would be good or excellent in the next 12 months, and 51 percent were confident about the state of their personal finances in the next 12 months.