Bulgaria’s consumer confidence improved in July 2011 – NSI
In July 2011, the total consumer confidence indicator in Bulgaria increased by 1.3 percentage points because of an increase by 1.9 percentage points of confidence among city dwellers, the National Statistics Institute (NSI) said on August 5. But the value of the indicator for rural inhabitants dropped 0.5 percentage points, the NSI said. The latest survey showed a lessening of pessimism among consumers about the general economic situation in the past 12 months, according to the NSI. Consumers' opinions about the change in consumer prices over the past 12 months were more favourable than three months earlier. Consumers also were relatively less worried about inflation than they were three months ago. There was a decrease in pessimism about unemployment, with expectations shifting to more moderate assessments from "increase sharply" to "increase slightly" or "remain the same", as the balance indicator declined by 6.5 percentage points. But consumers' expectations about the development of the the general economic situation in the country over the next 12 months as a whole were more unfavourable than they were three months ago, the NSI said. Bulgarians continued to be pessimistic about their finances. Although the rural population in July improve its assessment of the household budget situation by one percentage point, this could not compensate for a deterioration of the indicator of 10.2 percentage points registered in the previous survey, in April 2011. As regards urban households' finances, the deterioration is gradual and smooth, as the NSI put it, on average by 1.4 percentage points a quarter since October last year. A slight improvement in some indicators, such as assessment of the current economic situation in the country in the context of "favorable - unfavorable for savings" or intent to buy durable goods over the next 12 months was due entirely to the urban population, the NSI said. (Source: The Sofia Echo)