Russia: Consumer confidence remains firmly entrenched in negative territory in Q4
The fourth-quarter consumer confidence index published by the Federal Statistics Service (Rosstat) on 17 January was stable at the third quarter’s minus 13 points. As a result, the index remained firmly entrenched below the 0-point threshold, where it has been for since Q3 2008, signaling that pessimists continue to firmly outnumber optimists in the Russian economy.
The fourth-quarter result reflected across-the-board pessimism among Russian households. Consumers’ views of both the current and the future economic situation in the country, as well as their assessment of both the current and future economic situation remained entrenched in the negative territory. On a slightly more positive note, households’ willingness to make big-ticket purchases and the assessment of their ability to save both improved marginally in the fourth quarter.