RI The Most Confident
Country in Facing Crisis
Indonesia boasts the highest
consumer index in the world,
a survey by the Nielsen
Company shows, effectively
brushing off any threat to
economic activities here
from the global economic
crisis. The survey showed
Indonesia topped Nielsen’s
global consumer confidence
index with 104 points,
followed by Denmark, 102
points and India, 99 points.
The lowest score goes to
Korea and Portugal with 31
and 48 index points,
respectively. “Indonesia is
the most confident country
in facing the global
crisis,” the Nielsen
executive director of
consumer research, Catherine
Eddy said during the
announcement of the survey.
The latest biannual Nielsen
Consumer Confidence survey,
conducted between March 19
and April 3 and involving
interviews with 25,140
regular Internet respondents
from 50 countries showed
that global consumer
confidence had plummeted to
a new record low in the past
six months.
The index fell 7 points down
from 84 to 77, according to
the latest survey. “We
interviewed Internet users,
most of whom are
well-educated and have
middle- to upper-income
jobs,” Eddy said. “We found
most Indonesian respondents
were highly optimistic in
facing the crisis.” She
added 86 percent of 533
Indonesian respondents were
very optimistic with local
job prospects within the
next 12 months, while only 9
percent felt uncertain with
their job security.
“Indonesians also perceive
they can keep buying the
things they want and need,
even during the global
crisis,” Eddy said.
“Indonesians are also
confident with their
personal finances in the
years ahead.”
The survey revealed 70
percent of Indonesians were
optimistic with regard to
financial stability.
Despite the optimism, the
survey also showed that
Indonesians tended to save
their money rather than
spend it during the crisis.
“Our survey discovered 67
percent of Indonesian
respondents put their cash
into savings,” Eddy pointed
out. She added the
respondents were not holding
back entirely from spending.
They also spend their money
on good bargains. “They like
to spend their money for
certain materials, which
would benefit some companies
during the economic crisis,”
she said.
The survey showed 29 percent
of Indonesians like to spend
their money on new
technology products, while
25 percent spend money on
holidays. Twenty percent
spend money on outdoor
entertainment, 17 percent on
house redecorating and 44
percent on investment in
shares or stocks. “Actually
there was a significant drop
in the investment sector,”
Eddy said. “In the second
half of 2008, 50 percent of
the Indonesians interviewed
invested their money in
stock funds”.
She added the global crisis
had already influenced
Indonesians to be more
careful in investing.
“Surprisingly, the demand to
purchase new clothes is
still similar to that in the
second half of 2008 and
first half of 2009,” she
said. “About 17 percent
Indonesian respondents still
like to buy clothes,” she
added. (The Jakarta Post)
