The Consumer Confidence Index conducted by the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry shows that 67 percent of the surveyed population of Riyadh expect the cost of living in 2016 to rise compared to a year before, a local publication reported.
Meanwhile, 30 percent of respondents said the cost of living will stay the same, but a proportion of 44 percent expect income levels to rise this current year to rates higher than the level of inflation, in comparison to the past year.
Derayah Center conducted the poll by measuring the views of a sample representing different segments of consumers from the capital.
The center monitors and measures trends among the population concerning economic changes and their impact on living conditions which should provide a clear vision for business people, investors and decision makers in the fields of economy and trade. The index affects also money market trends and decisions of investors.
Regarding the Saudi economic performance in 2016, results showed that 43.8 percent of respondents expect the economic performance will get better, against 35.7 percent who said it will not change, while 20.6 percent said the economic performance will get worse. Such results reflect future optimistic outlooks which will stabilize the performance of the Saudi economy in 2016.
On the extent of how economic performance is encouraging to those starting a business or trading in stocks, financial assets and real estate in 2016, about 27.5 percent expected that it is encouraging, against 47 percent who said economic performance does not affect such decisions, and 25.5 percent who said it is not encouraging.
Again, such proportions reflect a stable future outlook on predicting how much the economic performance is encouraging for starting a new business this year.
The index shows that 42 percent of respondents are satisfied with their work, with the majority of them working in the private sector, against 48 percent who said they are OK with their work and 10 percent who expressed dissatisfaction with work.
Regarding the work environment, the index shows that 40 percent of respondents, the majority of whom are from the private sector, expect the work environment to improve this year.
About 53.8 percent expected better levels of services provided by the government to facilitate matters for citizens, and contribute to the economic and social development of the country and people during this current year; 38 percent expect no change to happen in the level of the services offered and eight percent expect this level to drop.
The calculation of the value of the index was based on four sub-indexes, each with 25 percent of the total value of the index.
The four indicators include the financial situation of the family; its living standards; employment status; and the economic situation of the country.
The standard figures for each sub-index is calculated with the year 2015 as a benchmark.
Source: Arab News