2017.03.2308:49:00UTC+00Turkey Consumer Confidence Beats Expectations, Rises to 67.8 in March

Data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute showed Thursday that Turkey's consumer confidence strengthened unexpectedly in March, after weakening in the previous month. Turkey's consumer confidence index rose to 67.8 in March, defying expectations for a slight fall to 65.6. The unexpected rise in march followed a weakening to 65.7 in the previous month.

The index still remains below 100 levels and indicates a pessimistic outlook. A rise above 100 levels would be required to reflect optimism. Households remained upbeat about the financial and general economic situation going forward.

Households' financial situation expectations improved in March, with the corresponding index rising to 87.8 from 85.9 in February, while the general economic situation expectation index also edged higher to 93.2 from 88.0 in the previous month.

The number of people unemployed expectation index increased by 3.7 percent compared to the previous month and became 70.4 in March. At the same time, the probability of saving index dropped to 19.9 from 21.0.