Oman launches Consumer Confidence Survey 2019

The National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) has organised a Consumer Confidence Survey 2019 which started on 23 June and would continue till 4 July.

According to NCSI officials, the survey is intended to calculate the Index of Consumer Sentiment (ICS), which is a key measure of the state of economy.

The survey, which is conducted over telephone using mobile phones, is designed to assess the degree of satisfaction among the citizens with regard to the Sultanate’s current economic status as reflected by inflation, employment opportunities, investment climate, economic policies pursued by the government, and the cost of living, among others.

It also gauges the extent of public optimism regarding economic development in the short-term (one year).

Consumer confidence index is a reflection of the behaviour of consumers. An increase in customer spending leads to a rise in demand for various goods and services. This results in increased production and a rise in production facilities to meet that demand which in turn aids the economic recovery process.

On the contrary, a decline in consumer spending leads to an economic downturn. Thus, the consumer confidence index offers a futuristic idea about the direction of economic growth.

The sample size of the survey is 1500 including Omani nationals aged 18 or above, distributed across the 11 governorates.

The survey error margin is limited to 3%. The methodology and formula used by NCSI to calculate the consumer confidence index have been developed by the Survey Research Centre, University of Michigan, USA, and is widely used by national governments across the world. This enables global comparisons of the index obtained.

The methodology involves simple arithmetic average of three sub indicators, namely current economic conditions index, household income level index, and consumer expectations index.

The survey assigns appropriate weight in terms of governorate gender, educational levels (below secondary, secondary and above secondary), and age (less than 30 years, between 30 and 50, and above 50).

NCSI will carry out quarterly surveys in order to follow up on the changes in indicator values.