FNB/BER Consumer Confidence Index

Mamello Matikinca-Ngwenya

Consumer confidence rocked by electricity crisis, cost-of-living concerns

Having recovered from -20 to -8 index points during the fourth quarter of 2022, the FNB/BER Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) plunged to -23 index points during the first quarter of 2023.[1] The latest reading is broadly in line with the extraordinarily weak consumer confidence level recorded during the third quarter of 2020 (also -23, during a time of level 3 COVID restrictions, alcohol bans, school closures and curfews), as well as the second quarter of 2022 (-25, when deadly floods devastated KZN and the economic ramifications of the Ukrainian war started to manifest). The reading of -23 is the third lowest CCI reading on record since 1994 and indicative of extreme concern among consumers about South Africa’s economic prospects and their household finances.

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