Consumer confidence drops in Indonesia but rises in Malaysia: MasterCard Index

Overall, MasterCard said consumer confidence picked up across Asia-Pacific as concerns about slow growth lessen in the region.

The index is based on a survey conducted between 24 April and 10 June with 11,376 respondents aged 18 to 64 in 25 countries within Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa. The survey's index scores are calculated with zero as the most pessimistic, 100 as most optimistic and 50 as neutral.

But it noted that confidence levels in Indonesia in the second half of 2011 were “unseasonably high” and the decline signals a return to a level of positive confidence that has been shown in Indonesia consistently over recent periods.

Matthew Driver, division president, Southeast Asia, MasterCard Worldwide, said, “What we’ve seen from this data is a return to a generally positive but not exuberant level of confidence in Indonesia that is comparable but still slightly higher to previous years and in line with the rest of the ASEAN region.”

The Philippines also registered a 11.8 point drop in consumer confidence levels, but the survey added that consumers are still optimistic in the market.

Meanwhile, Malaysia showed a significant 17.1 point increase in confidence levels, while Thailand showed 11.9 point increase.

Singapore and Vietnam saw more stability in consumer confidence over the past year, with confidence levels increasing by 2.9 and decreasing by 1.6 respectively.