Singapore’s consumer confidence index rose slightly to 120.7 points (up 1.7 points than last month) in September.

ANZ-Roy Morgan says the slight increase in confidence over the month was driven by an improvement in the assessment of current and future financial assessments.

The survey revealed 44 per cent (down 2 ppts) of respondents expect Singapore will have “good times” economically over the next 12 months compared to 11 per cent (down 2 ppts) who expect “bad times” economically.

Eighteen per cent (up 1 ppt) of respondents said now is a “good time to buy” major household items compared to 21 per cent (down 1 ppt) who said now is a “bad time to buy” major household items.

ANZ chief economist South Asia, Asean & Pacific, Glenn Maguire, said: “The fact that less than half of respondents expect Singapore to have “good times” economically over the next 12 months or for Singapore to have “good times” financially over the next five years, is perhaps the strongest economic indicator of how average Singaporeans are reacting to the myriad challenges of current policies aimed at restructuring and reinvigorating the Singaporean economy.”