OREANDA-NEWS.  January 23, 2012. Improvement of consumer confidence of Ukrainians was observed in December 2011: the respective index is 75.3, which is 1 p. higher than the indicator value in November. Growth of consumer confidence was primarily caused by significant seasonal increase of propensity to consume despite the decrease of current personal financial standing and expected changes in personal financial standing indexes. This is proved by the consumer confidence survey in Ukraine, conducted by GfK Ukraine on a monthly basis.

In December 2011 the Consumer Confidence index (CCI) increased by 1 p. to 75.3.

Index of the Current Situation increased by 1.1 p. to 74.5. The components of this index changed in the following way:
Index of Current Personal Financial Standing (x1) lost 1.5 p. and reached 69.9;
Propensity to Consume (х5) grew by 3.7 p. to 79.

Economic Expectations of the population increased by 1 p. to 75.8. The components of this index changed as follows:
Index of Expected Changes in Personal Financial Standing (х2) lost 2.6 p. to 77.9;
Index of Expected Economic Conditions in the Country Over the Next Year (х3) grew by 2.9 p. to 72.8;
Index of Expected Economic Conditions in the Country Over the Next Five Years (х4) increased by 2.6 p. to 76.9.

At the same time, expectations regarding changes in unemployment improved in December: the respective index reached 131.7 which is 2.3 p. lower than the index value in November. Moreover, optimistic inflationary expectations were observed: index value decreased by 0.3 p. to 184.7.

The following key trends were observed in December:
The improvement of consumer confidence was primarily caused by the seasonal increase of propensity to consume which is somewhat typical for December. The respective index improved despite the decrease of current personal financial standing and expected changes in personal financial standing indexes.
The increase of optimism was observed in smaller settlements while the confidence decreased in cities with population over 500 thsd. and among the citizens aged 31 to 45 years which is the most economically active age group. 

"The reduction of real salaries in October and November along with the decrease of industrial manufacture in December caused the deterioration of employees’ confidence in cities. The New Year’s Eve buying fever tended consumers to become more optimistic but we observe no ground for the stable confidence growth”, as GfK Ukraine analysts comment.