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Tag: Dun & Bradstreet Pakistan and Gallup Pakistan

  • Pakistan’s consumer confidence index improves in Q4

    Pakistan’s consumer confidence index improves in Q4

    KARACHI: Dun & Bradstreet Pakistan and Gallup Pakistan have issued their report on ‘Pakistan Consumer Confidence Index (CCI)’ for Q4 2021. The Consumer Confidence Index increased to 77.0 points in Q4 2021, compared to 70.8 points in Q3 2021, translating into 8.8 per cent q-o-q increase.

    This improvement in sentiment is driven primarily by improvement in future expectations as respondents reported a greater increase in Future Expectations (up 13.6 per cent) compared to Current Situation (up 2.3 per cent) in this quarter.

    During the current quarter, all CCI parameters witnessed a slight improvement while still indicating pessimism, driven primarily by increase in future expectations (up 13.6 per cent) Q-o-Q. Overall increase primarily stemmed from improved perceptions regarding Household Savings (up 16.3 per cent).

    Unemployment continues to drag consumers’ enthusiasm and remained the most pessimistic parameter (NI = 55.3). Across all parameters, consumers were only optimistic regarding Future Financial Situation (NI = 109.3). During Q4 2021 survey, 91 per cent consumers believed that daily essentials have continued to become expensive/very expensive in the last 6 months compared to 94 per cent in Q3 2021.

    Nauman Lakhani, Country Lead of Dun & Bradstreet in Pakistan stated, “The eighth issue of Pakistan Consumer Confidence marks the end of the calendar year 2021 and completion of two cycles of CCI. Current Consumer Confidence growth of almost 9 per cent as compared to the sharp decline last quarter is healthy, but consumers remain in the ‘pessimistic’ zone. The slight improvement is a likely indication of normalizing demand, amidst people adapting to the ‘new normal’.”

    Bilal Ijaz Gilani, Executive Director Gallup Pakistan, added, “The current quarter results show improvement in overall consumer sentiment, driven largely by improved expectation for future. Having said this, the overall sentiment remains in the negative with majority rating current and future situation of their finances to be in dire straits. Given the continued pressure of inflation, slow economic growth and disparity between small vs large and those selling to domestic vs international markets growing, the chances of sentiments improving drastically in the short term are low as well. Businesses therefore need to keep this current and short-term forecast in mind while planning for expansion.”

    The CCI report has been developed by assessing Consumers’ Confidence about the economy as well as their personal financial situation. The Index covers four key parameters i.e., Household Financial Situation, Country’s Economic Condition, Unemployment, and Household Savings. The Index reflects ‘Current Situation’ (economic changes witnessed in the last six months), as well as ‘Future Expectations’ (changes expected for next six months) of consumers across the country.

    The CCI ranges from 0 to 200, with 100 as the neutral value. A score of less than 100 indicates pessimism while a score of more than 100 indicates optimism.

  • Consumer confidence declines in first quarter of 2021

    Consumer confidence declines in first quarter of 2021

    KARACHI: The consumer confidence index has declined by over 10 percent in the first quarter of 2021 owing to concerns over the current economic situation owing to imposition of restrictions to prevent spread of coronavirus.

    Dun & Bradstreet Pakistan and Gallup Pakistan issued their report on ‘Pakistan Consumer Confidence Index (CCI)’ for Q1 2021 on Thursday.

    The CCI report has been developed by assessing Consumers’ Confidence about the economy as well as their personal financial situation. The Index covers four key parameters i.e., Household Financial Situation, Country’s Economic Condition, Unemployment, and Household Savings.

    The Index is a reflection of ‘Current Situation’ (economic changes felt in the last six months), as well as ‘Future Expectations’ (changes expected for next 6 months) of consumers across the country.

    The CCI ranges from 0 to 200, with 100 as the neutral value. A score of less than 100 indicates pessimism. The CCI was 80.8 points in Q1 2021, compared to 90.3 points in Q4 2020, translating into 10.5 percent q-o-q decrease. This deterioration in sentiment is driven by restrictions imposed on business operations by the government to counter the third wave of the pandemic.

    Consumers reported a greater decline in Future Expectations (down 12.0 percent) due to prevailing uncertainty, compared to the Current Situation, which also declined by 8.3 percent this quarter.

    Nauman Lakhani, Country Lead of Dun & Bradstreet in Pakistan stated, “The fifth issue of Pakistan Consumer Confidence marks the beginning of the calendar year 2021.

    A decline of over 10 percent q-o-q in the Consumer Confidence reflects increasing concerns amongst respondents. Consumers reported a greater decline in Future Expectations compared to Current Situation which demonstrates that consumers are more apprehensive about Future.”

    Bilal Ijaz Gilani, Executive Director Gallup Pakistan, added, “In the first quarter of 2021, CCI shows a consumer who is both increasingly concerned about the present economic situation and also apprehensive about the future. Unemployment concerns have been rising to mid-2020 level as the government imposes lockdown in major cities, curtail business hours, and shut schools in wake of the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Inflation at high 7-8 percent continues to eat purchasing power of the common consumer. With the new Finance Minister, we at Gallup hope that growth enhancing policies will be introduced to bring short term relief to consumers.”

    During the current quarter, all CCI parameters witnessed an overall decline. Consumer sentiments witnessed the largest deterioration in regards to Economic Condition of the Country which declined by 16.0 percent on account of resumption of smart lockdown.

    During Q1 2021, Household Financial Situation was the only CCI parameter that managed to stay above 100 points despite decreasing for the first time since Q1 2020.

    Furthermore, Unemployment continues to drag consumers’ enthusiasm and remained the most pessimistic parameter. Unemployment Situation deteriorated by 15.7 percent q-o-q, more than half (53 percent) of respondents believe that Unemployment will increase in the next six months compared to 42 percent in Q4 2020 and 39 percent in Q3 2020.

    During Q1 2021 survey, 92 percent consumers believed that daily essentials have continued to become expensive / very expensive in the last 6 months compared to 93 percent in Q4 2020.

  • Dun & Bradstreet signs pact with Trade Foresight for verified business data

    Dun & Bradstreet signs pact with Trade Foresight for verified business data

    KARACHI: Trade Foresight has entered into an agreement with Dun & Bradstreet Pakistan (D&B), the world’s leading source of business information and insights. Under the agreement, D&B will power Trade Foresight with D&B Verified Company and Business Profiles.

    Integrating D&B’s Verified and Globally recognized Business Profiles will allow Trade Foresight’s customers to have access to the largest corporate database and make more confident business decisions by viewing verified Business Profiles and D&B Ratings.

    D&B shall power Tarde Foresight by enabling state-of-the-art API integration tools (Direct+), completely automating the data and information sharing process between both Companies.

    Dun & Bradstreet (D&B), with a presence of over 179 years and operating in over 200 countries, is a global Information Services and Risk Management Company. D&B, which possesses over 400 million business records worldwide, provides robust data and compliance solutions to millions of businesses, including over 90% of fortune 500 companies.

    On the occasion of the signing, Nauman Lakhani, County Head for Dun & Bradstreet in Pakistan, said: “Dun & Bradstreet is delighted to empower Trade Foresight/Inseyab with the world’s largest database as well as insights. We are confident that clients of Trade Foresight/Inseyab will surely benefit from this arrangement. For the last 2 years, our presence in Pakistan has seen us working with Financial Service Providers and Corporates alike. This collaboration has the potential to reach a large pool of local businesses for the facilitation of their data needs.”

    Speaking on occasion, Dr. Muhammad Ehsan Khan, CEO & Founder of Trade Foresight/Inseyab, said, “Trade Foresight is currently being used by the Traders and Trade Associations of more than 30 countries, and the platform is helping them make effective trade decisions. One of the key challenges that we were facing was around Trader’s Data validation, and having Dun & Bradstreet as our partner helps us solve this issue. We look forward to supporting our traders by helping them connect with verified local/international trade partners and grow their businesses globally. Our vision is to help Pakistan balance its trade deficit, and we believe that digitally equipping Pakistani traders with the verified data and tools can have a positive impact in the achievement of this vision.”

    Trade Foresight is the World’s First Data and Analytics-Driven Trade Platform that provides companies trade insights that facilitate informed decisions. With offices across 5 countries, the platform enables this by highlighting potential risks via integrated/correlated trade data from verified sources. Trade Foresight helps identify opportunities that can support businesses in increasing their export market share and ensuring a resilient import supply chain.

  • Consumers remain optimistic despite adverse coronavirus impact: survey

    Consumers remain optimistic despite adverse coronavirus impact: survey

    KARACHI: Despite very difficult six months marked by COVID-19 outbreak in the country, a large portion of consumers remain optimistic that the economic condition of the country will improve in coming days.

    Bilal Ijaz Gilani, Executive Director Gallup Pakistan said on Tuesday while launching of a survey report.

    “Pakistanis are generally optimistic people and the current CCI report reflects the same. Despite the very difficult 6 months marked by the COVID-19 outbreak in the country, a large proportion of consumers remain optimistic that the economic conditions of the country will improve in the coming days,” he said.

    Dun & Bradstreet Pakistan and Gallup Pakistan have launched their inaugural report titled ‘Pakistan Consumer Confidence Index (CCI)’.

    The CCI report has been developed by assessing Consumers’ Confidence about the economy as well as their personal financial situation.

    The Index encompasses covers four key parameters i.e., Household Financial Situation, Country’s Economic Condition, Unemployment, and Household Savings.

    The Index is a reflection of ‘Current Sentiments’ (economic changes felt in the last six months), as well as ‘Future Expectations’ (changes expected for next 6 months) of consumers across the country.

    Nauman Lakhani, Country Manager of Dun & Bradstreet Pakistan stated, “We envisage this report to be informative and useful for Policy Makers, Development Financial Institutions, Small & Medium Enterprises, Large Private Sector Companies as well as Regulators and Research & Educational Institutions in Pakistan. It would be especially relevant for Industries directly or indirectly serving consumers and help them understand the pulse of the market.

    “Government departments keen to understand the sentiments of citizens across the country (especially in the COVID impacted situation), should find it especially interesting and insightful.”

    Bilal Ijaz Gilani, Executive Director Gallup Pakistan said that the recent economic indicators including figures on exports, remittances, and inflation point to short term economic stability with a 4-5 percent rise in GDP growth rate in the next 2 years.

    However, if there is anything that the global COVID-19 pandemic has taught us is that projections are mere projections and, in an interconnected world, there are hardly any constants! Reports like the Dun & Bradstreet and Gallup Pakistan CCI provide an early warning barometer in these turbulent times and can help decision makers navigate the rather unstable business environment in the country.”

    The first survey was conducted face to face with 2,041 respondents during Feb and early March 2020 (referred to as ‘Feb Survey’ before the COVID-19 pandemic fully impacted Pakistan.

    The second survey was conducted telephonically with 1,500 respondents during Jul-Aug 2020, this is referred to as ‘Aug Survey’.

    The Consumer Confidence Index ranges from 0 to 200, with 100 as the neutral value. A score of less than 100 indicates pessimism.

    The Consumer Confidence Index was 79.1 points in Aug Survey, compared to 79.0 points in Feb Survey. Thus, the overall consumer confidence in Pakistan has remained pessimistic in both the surveys, and was pessimistic even during pre-COVID times.

    Sentiments about the current situation are more negative in Aug Survey due to the impact of COVID-19. This is indicated by a decline of current CCI by 12 percent to 60.7 in Aug Survey, compared to a score of 69.1 in Feb Survey.

    Unemployment situation in the country seems to be the most impacted as a result of COVID-19. 4 out of 5 consumers feel that unemployment has increased/ increased a lot compared in the last 6 months (pre-COVID situation).

    Consequently, 51 percent of the respondents expressed concern that their Household Financial Situation had worsened in the last 6 months.

    On the back of deteriorating employment opportunities, and household financial situation, increasing prices of daily essentials is a key concern. 2 out of 3 consumers surveyed felt that prices of daily essentials have increased significantly in the last 6 months.

    Current CCI declined by 7 percent and 14 percent in Balochistan and Punjab respectively, while KPK witnessed the worst decline in consumer sentiments by 33 percent. In Sindh, consumer confidence Index was 60, indicating high pessimism.

    However, this was an improvement by around 10 percent from Feb Survey indicating that pessimism was very high in Sindh even during pre-COVID times, and the situation is marginally better now.

    Due to early signs of economic rebound seen in Pakistan during Jul-Aug 2020, respondents are less pessimistic about the future in all the 4 major provinces in which the survey was conducted. Future expectations of the consumers (Future CCI) improved by 9.5 percent to 97.5. This improvement can be largely attributed to consumer optimism relating to their household financial situation and savings in the next 6 months compared to the current situation.

    However, future CCI is still marginally in the pessimistic range as 55 percent respondents feel that there will be fewer jobs in the next 6 months and 3 out of 5 consumers opined that the country’s economic situation will remain the same or further worsen.

    On the whole, while the current situation has dampened the spirits, consumers all across Pakistan relatively more optimistic and upbeat for the economic situation to improve, than they were six months earlier.

    Bilal I. Gilani, Executive Director of Gallup Pakistan added that “Across demographics, current sentiments are low as was expected due to the impact of the COVID-19 situation. However, with the rapid decline in cases since mid of June, consumers are less pessimistic about the short-term outlook for the next 6 months. In particular, we noticed that optimism is high amongst females and urban respondents.”