Consumer confidence down in August

The consumer confidence index dropped 3.6 percent in August compared to the previous month, according to data released yesterday by the Turkish Statistic Institute (TurkStat). The index decreased from 64.66 in July to 62.35 in August, which is the lowest level in the last six-and-a-half years. Meanwhile, the financial situation expectation of the household index decreased 2.3 percent from 88.24 to 86.17 percent, which means less people are expecting a better financial situation in the next 12 months. The general economic situation expectation index dropped from 84.33 to 77.6 in the same period, an 8 percent decrease. This drop indicates a decline of the number of people who believe the economy will get better in the next 12 months. The report said other indices have seen slight declines, with the number of people unemployed expectation index dropping 0.6 percent and the probability of saving index falling 0.2 percent in August, compared to July.