Indiantelevision.com Team

(29 November 2011 7:20 pm)

MUMBAI: India's Economic Confidence grew by six points to 75 per cent in the month of October compared to the previous month, becoming the second most economically confident country, according to the global economic report released by Ipsos, the market research company.

The report, titled 'Ipsos Global @dvisory: The Economic Pulse of the World' is based on 18,682 recent interviews in 24 countries around the world; and examines citizens' assessment of the current state of their country's economy for a total global perspective.

Ipsos in India MD Mick Gordon said, "The Indian economy has been well insulated from global economic conditions as it has been fueled by domestic consumption and the increased FDI into the country. Our economy has remained steady at a robust 8.1% and this positive consumer sentiment is seen reflected in our survey."

How are some of the other global economies performing?

The global aggregate national assessment was dragged by Europe (-2 points to 24 per cent), which was 16 points lower than the next lowest region, North America (40 per cent). In fact, all the regions have reported declining national economic assessments - the Middle East and Africa (-2 to 60 per cent); Asia Pacific (-1 to 41 per cent); except Latin America (46 per cent) which experienced no change in October.

Despite all the ups and downs, two countries gained significantly - India gained six points to reach 75 per cent; while South Africa gained five points to reach 39 per cent. So, if one looks at the pecking order: Global leader Saudi Arabia experienced a six-point drop to 83 per cent but continued to hold its pole position; India as mentioned earlier bagged the second spot at 75 per cent; Sweden lost five points and was third at 69 per cent; Canada was unchanged at 66 per cent; China too was unchanged at 65 per cent.

The countries at the bottom of the heap were the same as last month with abysmally low consumer sentiments: Hungary lost two points and was at 2 per cent; Spain gained 2 points but was low at 5 per cent; Japan further lost two points and was 6 per cent; France lost 1-point and was at 6 per cent and Italy was unchanged at 8 per cent. Sadly, Europe continued to lag by Belgium dropping 6 points to 25 per cent; Great Britain (-6 to 11 per cent) experienced the greatest drop in this wave after Indonesia (-7 to 35 per cent).

Future Outlook for Local Economy was reported unchanged at 24 per cent. The predictions of global citizens regarding whether their local economy would be "stronger", "weaker" or "about the same" six months from now stagnated at 24 per cent, agreeing it would be stronger - unchanged since August 2011.

Brazil's assessment levels on this measure made the world's recent zigzag look flat. Though it consistently stood at the top of 24 countries measured, Brazil (+9 to 74 per cent) has swung up and down throughout 2011: down 6 in March (67 per cent), up 5 in April (72 per cent), down 7 in June (64 per cent), up 7 in July (71 per cent), down 6 in September (65%), and was up 9 points in October (74 per cent).

After Brazil, India (+2 to 56 per cent) emerged the strongest on this measure followed by Saudi Arabia (-4 to 53 per cent), Argentina (-2 to 50 per cent) and China (-5 to 39 per cent).

France (unchanged at two per cent) remained at the bottom of the rating, followed closely by Hungary (-1 to five per cent), Great Britain (-2 to 8 per cent), and Belgium (unchanged at eight per cent).

Brazil experienced the greatest rise (+9 to 74 per cent), followed by Spain (+8 to 23 per cent), Russia (+5 to 20 per cent) and Canada (+4 to 19 per cent).

Turkey once again showed the greatest decline (-5 to 35 per cent) on this measure followed by China (-5 to 39 per cent) and a four-point decline in Poland (15%), Germany (12 per cent) and Saudi Arabia (53 per cent).