Turkey: Consumer confidence index improves in March

ANKARA

Turkish consumers' confidence in the country's economy improved this month despite coronavirus fears, Turkey's statistical authority revealed on Monday.

The consumer confidence index increased 1.7% month-on-month in March, TurkStat data showed.

Last month, the figure was 57.3.

The index value is calculated through cooperation between TurkStat and the Central Bank by measuring consumers' tendencies.

The number of people unemployed expectation index climbed 7.2%, hitting 57.6 in March, indicating that more people were expected to lose their jobs.

The number of people expecting a better financial situation for their household in the next 12-month period rose 2.3% on a monthly basis to 78.6 in March.

Last month's general economic situation expectation index of 75.9 slipped 0.5% this month to 75.6.

The probability of saving index -- showing consumers' tendency to save money over the next 12 month-period -- fell the most with a 5.8% decrease from February to 21.2 this month.

Last year, the index value ranged between 63.5 and 55.3 -- the highest being in April, and the lowest in May.

Consumers' assessments and expectations in nearly 20 economic and financial categories are measured in monthly tendency surveys.

The consumer confidence index calculated from the survey results is evaluated within a range of 0-200, indicating an optimistic outlook when the index is above 100, and a pessimistic one when it is below.