Consumer confidence drops to two-year low

 

Consumer confidence fell to a two-year low during the first quarter of this year.

 

The quarterly Jamaica Chamber of Commerce Business and Consumer Confidence indices were presented Tuesday morning by Don Anderson, Managing Director of Market Research Services.

 

Mr. Anderson said the results are an indication of the constant pressure on the economy since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

"When you look at all the indices that comprise and build into that overall computation, for example...'What are the current expectations with regard to the economy?,' that fell off from 160 in the corresponding first quarter of 2020 down to 121 in the first quarter of 2021.... And the same is true for every one of the factors that feed into this overall analysis," he asserted. 

 

There was a significant increase in the number of persons who felt business conditions would worsen. 

 

In the first quarter of 2020, some 22.4 per cent felt jobs would be harder to come by, but in the first quarter of 2021, that figure doubled, with 45 per cent saying the job situation would become worse.