Russia: Consumer sentiment improves marginally in Q2
The consumer confidence index published by the Federal Statistics Service (Rosstat) ticked up to minus 15 points in the second quarter, from minus 16 points in the first quarter. Despite the modest uptick, the index remains firmly entrenched below the 0-point threshold, where it has been for nearly 11 years, indicating that pessimists outnumber optimists in the Russian economy.
The slight uptick in confidence was broad-based. Consumers’ views of their current as well as future personal situation improved in the second quarter, while they were also more prone to make big ticket purchases. In a similar manner, households’ assessment of both the current and the future economic situation in the country improved slightly. Lastly, households assessed their ability to save slightly higher in the second quarter.