Moroccan Household Confidence Index Drops Amid Rising Cost of Living

In the third quarter of this year, the household confidence index is bowing under the weight of the cost of living. According to the business climate note, reported by HuffPost, the index stood at 74.8 points, instead of 74.9 points recorded the previous quarter and 82.5 points, in the same period last year.

The same source specifies that this result is based on the perception by households of the evolution of the standard of living, unemployment, the opportunity to make purchases of durable goods and their financial situation.

For the same period, the observation is diverse. According to the note, 43.9% of households say they have seen a deterioration in their standard of living over the past 12 months, 32.5% a maintenance at the same level, and 23.6% an improvement.

The balance of opinion, on the other hand, on the past evolution of the standard of living remained negative, at -20.2 points, compared to -25.4 points in the previous quarter and -9.5 points in the same quarter of the previous year. This situation is likely to persist this year, warns the HCP note.

Regarding the ability of households to save and the evolution of food prices, the indicators are in the red in the third quarter of 2019. Thus, according to the same source, only 17.8% against 82.2% of households expect to save over the next 12 months.

For the same media, the balance of opinion on this indicator remained negative at -64.4 points instead of -66.6 points in the previous quarter and -64.6 points in the same quarter of the previous year.

As for food prices, they should continue to rise over the next 12 months for 83.4% of households, the rest (16.5%) expect them to remain at the same level, concludes the HCP note.