Current economic condition, consumer confidence indexes decline

Current Economic Condition (CEC) Index and Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) declined in January 2020 while there was marginal improvement in Expected Economic Condition (EEC) index - an unusual occurrence as in previous surveys the three indices moved in the same direction.

The improvement in the ECC was from 46.4687 in November 2019 to 46.6789 in January 2020 while CCI declined from 41.91841 index in November 2019 to 40.59192 index in January 2020 and CEC index declined from 37.36813 index in November 2019 to 34.50492 index in January 2020.

Monetary Policy Statement released on 27 January 2019 maintained that "IBA/SBP survey of business confidence showed an improvement in business community's outlook for economic activity for a third successive wave." The survey is conducted jointly by Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi and SBP since January 2012 with the frequency of every two months to assist the SBP in setting the discount rate and determine effective polices that support the growth of business.

Consumer Confidence Survey, the website notes, is a stratified random telephone survey of more than 1600 households across Pakistan. A Business Recorder team contacted Abid Qamar the spokesperson for the SBP for his comments, and was told that he would check and get back; however repeated attempts to contact him by phone with three messages sent to him throughout the course of the evening went unanswered.