Japan: Consumer confidence falls to an over three-year low in March
Consumer sentiment declined from 41.5 in February to 40.5 in March, marking the lowest reading since February 2016. The consumer confidence index measures consumers’ expectations for the next six months on a scale of 0–100; a figure of 100 indicates that all respondents see their living standards improving.
Consumers were noticeably more pessimistic about their overall livelihood category and their willingness to buy durable goods. Job prospects waned significantly, while confidence about income growth recorded a smaller decline. Regarding prices, expectations of higher prices rose slightly in March, with 86.4% of respondents expecting prices to trend higher (up 0.4 percentage points from last month’s survey).