Turkish Consumer Confidence Rebounds In July

Turkey Consumer Confidence Index rose in July 2008 for the first time since December 2007. The Index, which was at 75.01 in June bounced back by 2.66% to reach 77.01 in July. When the index is above 100 it indicates an optimistic outlook, while below 100it indicates a generally pessimistic outlook. The index had been setting record historic lows every month since February.




According to Turkstat the increase in the Consumer Confidence Index stemmed from an improvement in consumers' assessments concerning their purchasing power in the current period as well as in the immediate future, together with a positive outlook on the general economic situation. Expectations about job opportunities and current propensity to buy durable goods were also up.

Some sort of increase in consumer confidence was only to be expected in July as optimism mounted that the ruling party would survive being closed by the Constitutional Court.

The main Istanbul Stock Exchange index shot up 18 percent between July 1 and July 29 as optimism mounted that the court would stop short of outlawing the ruling party. The final decision came on July 30, with the court limiting itself to warning the Justice and Development Party not to undermine the country's secular constitution.