Turkish consumer confidence edges higher in May

ANKARA

 Turkish consumer confidence ticked up by 0.3 percent month-on-month to reach 85.8 points in May, according to a joint survey by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) and the Central Bank released on May 18.

The slight increase follows a 0.5 percent rise recorded in April.

Despite the sequential improvement, the overall sentiment remains anchored in pessimistic territory. The consumer confidence index operates on a scale of 0 to 200, where any reading above 100 indicates an optimistic outlook.

The sub-index measuring the financial situation of households at present dropped by 3.5 percent month-on-month, accelerating from a 1.4 percent decline observed in April.

Conversely, forward-looking sentiment provided a modest cushion to the headline figure. The sub-index for household financial expectations over the next 12 months edged up by 0.5 percent, flattening out after a robust 2.1 percent surge recorded in the previous month.

The sub-index gauging expectations for the general economic outlook over the coming year rebounded sharply by 3.9 percent. This marks a reversal from the 0.9 percent contraction recorded in April.

Meanwhile, consumer inclination to spend on big-ticket items remained unchanged. The index measuring the assessment of spending on durable goods over the next 12 months posted a slight gain of 0.04 percent, which previously rose by 1.7 percent.