OREANDA-NEWS. January 21, 2013. The tendency to slight improvement of consumer confidence of Ukrainians continued in the last month of 2012. The Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) is 85.1 in December; it is 1.4 p. higher than in November. The main factor behind the improvement of consumer confidence in December was seasonal increase of the propensity to consume. It is proved by the data on Ukrainians’ consumer confidence survey conducted by GfK Ukraine on monthly basis.

In December 2012 the Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) grew by 1.4 p. to 85.1.

Index of Current Situation grew to the level of 88.3 which 4 p. higher than in November. The components of this index changed in the following way:
Index of Current Personal Financial Standing (x1) gained 2.1 p. and reached 86.3;
Propensity to Consume (х5) improved by 5.9 p. to 90.4.

Economic Expectations of the population kept the November level losing 0.3 p. to 82.9. The components of this index changed as follows:
Index of Expected Changes in Personal Financial Standing (х2) lost 5.2 p. to 88.5;
Index of Expected Economic Conditions in the Country Over the Next Year (х3) is 79.9 which 1.4 p. higher than in November;
Index of Expected Economic Conditions in the Country Over the Next Five Years (х4) gained 2.9 p. to 80.5.

Concerns of Ukrainians regarding unemployment dynamics kept the November level: the respective index is 135 that is 0.4 p. less than in November. Index of Inflationary expectations is 185.6 that is 0.4 p. higher than in November. At the same time, Ukrainians became more optimistic regarding hryvnia exchange rate in the next three months: index of devaluation expectations dropped by 12 points to 136.1.

The following key trends were observed in December:
The main factor behind the improvement of consumer confidence in December was seasonal increase of the propensity to consume that grew in December comparing to November during the last four years. The unprecedented decline of index of devaluation expectations down to the level of August 2012 had provided positive impact on indices of expected economic conditions, except index of expected changes in personal financial standing.
Deterioration of consumer confidence in December was observed among Ukrainians with below average income level and for the inhabitants of rural areas. The highest increase was observed in the cities with more than 500 thsd. of citizens and in the Eastern region – in both cases higher propensity to consume was the main source of the consumer confidence improvement.