Consumer confidence in Turkish economy slightly rises

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Consumer confidence in Turkish economy slightly nudged up in January, Turkey’s statistical authority announced Thursday.

January figure rose 0.1% month-on-month to 58.82, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said in a statement.

The financial situation expectation of household reading showed the highest rise, up 2.3% during the same period.

It was followed by the general economic situation index which went up 1.1% from last month.

But the probability of saving index -- indicating people’s expectation of earning enough money to save -- deteriorated the most, slipping 9.1% on a monthly basis in January.

The number of people unemployed anticipation index also fell 0.5% as people are more pessimistic about finding jobs.

The index value is jointly calculated by TurkStat and the Central Bank through measurement of consumer tendencies.

The consumer confidence index is seen as a vital gauge of the overall health of the economy, indicating people's sentiments about spending their money, which in turn gives clues about economic vitality.