Caught in the web of a seemingly unending economic downturn, as many as 58 percent Nigerian consumers say they have no immediate intention to spend. This is according to a recent first quarter Nielsen Global Survey of Consumer Confidence and Spending Intentions 2016.
The survey is a result from 30,000 online consumers in 63 countries throughout Asia-Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and North America.
The spending intention rate is an 8-percentage point drop from the previous quarter. Other indicators that declined include the percentage seeing a positive outlook for jobs in the next 12 months, which dropped eight points to 65 percent. The share expressing favourable personal finance sentiment also declined 3 percentage points to 79 percent.
According to Lampe Omoyele, managing director, Nielsen West Africa, “Nigeria’s drop was driven by deteriorating macroeconomic indicators as a result of continued weakness in commodity prices.
“Despite this, Nigerians continue to be some of the most optimistic consumers on the continent. It’s a much-needed optimism: Business success in Nigeria is about successfully navigating the complex routes to market, pinpointing the optimal outlets to generate the greatest return, and working with retailers to build and activate demand – in a market with more than 2 million retail outlets.”
Nigeria’s consumer confidence score ranked the highest at 120 among three sub-Saharan African countries measured by Nielsen using a mobile survey methodology. This was despite a seven-point decrease in the first quarter, which stood at 127. Closely behind Nigeria was Kenya consumer confidence, which increased five point to 108, and Ghana’s confidence score 104 remained unchanged from the previous quarter.
Most respondents interviewed said they believed that the economy was in recession in the first quarter. Across the globe, recessionary sentiment rose in 40 of 62 measured markets in the quarter.
Louise Keely, senior vice president, Nielson, and president, the Demand Institute, noted, “Concerns about a global recession dissipated among economists by the end of the first quarter of 2016. Still consumers across markets surveyed in the first quarter of 2016 were, on average, more likely than not to think their economy was in recession relative to those surveyed the previous quarter.
“Big jumps in recessionary sentiment of some individual markets can indicate consumer concerns about macroeconomic or even political situations specific to that country, even if they do not coincide with an actual recession.”
