Peru: Consumer confidence strongly rebounds following Vizcarra’s appointment as president
The consumer confidence indicator published by GfK jumped to 98 in April, up significantly from 80 in the prior month. Marking the first move closer to optimistic territory after five consecutive months of declines, the jump reflected consumers’ confidence in the new government led by President Martín Vizcarra, which took office on 23 March. The indicator moved much closer to the crucial 100-point threshold that separates optimism from pessimism among Peruvian consumers; it has been below the threshold since November 2017.
Consumers grew far less pessimistic as they broadly believed that the new government will take measures to reactivate the economy. Moreover, consumers’ confidence in a short-term economic improvement jumped. Respondents largely perceived the economy to be growing, but at a softer pace than before. However, the number of respondents who believed growth has stalled decreased considerably from March. Also, more households expected economic growth to pick up pace, and the number of households who expected that their personal economic situations would improve in the next 12 months jumped. Furthermore, two-thirds of respondents believed that with Vizcarra as president it would be possible to return to economic growth.