by investment promotion agencies and public-private partnership units , and ( 4 ) the efficiency and transparency of governmentto-business services in participating states . All these explain the positive outlook across both households and businesses on the future state of the economy . Households report a recovery in their purchasing power and personal financial situation although discretionary spending continues dwindling
Turning to the household indices considered , majority of them managed to recover in September after faltering in their performances last month . At the forefront was the general economic conditions indices for both the city and country where households showed much more optimism on these two aspects as the indices tracking the two elements surged by 15 and 14 points respectively . Households also reported an improvement in their income situation with the household income index escalating by 19 points hence rising from 13 to 32 .
Furthermore , the purchasing power and personal finance indices finally reversed the downward trend observed in the preceding two months with the former gaining 13 points ( climbing from -1 to 12 ) and the latter increasing by 16 points . Unfortunately , job prospects and discretionary spending were unable to follow suit as they weakened yet again in September . The job prospects index shrunk by 3 points while the discretionary spending index lost 4 points falling from -7 to -11 thereby attaining a new low for this year .
Following the discussion earlier , it appears that the stabilisation of prices as illustrated by the “ cooling ” in the month-on-month changes of the consumer price index has been beneficial to the income and spending situation for households . Moreover , the heightening of the general economic condition indices for both city and country reinforces the optimism among households on the future .
After attaining an all-time low in August , consumer sentiment in South Africa bounces back while consumer confidence in Ghana disintegrates due to ongoing economic woes
With the exception of Cameroon and Ghana , all other countries experienced a gain in their consumer sentiment . Consumer confidence in Ghana fell furthest with the index weakening by 10 points . Conversely , South Africa recorded the largest advancement in consumer
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Ghana ’ s economy has suffered significantly in 2022 and the country is in a full-blown recession . Inflation in the country is at its highest reading since July 2001 and it has accelerated for a 16th straight month . In fact , data from the Ghana Statistical Service shows that annual inflation has climbed from 13.9 % in January to 37.2 % in September .
sentiment for the month with the index ascending by a whopping 59 points .
Last month , South Africa ’ s consumer confidence index plunged to the lowest level ever recorded since inception as the index sunk to -87 . Fortunately , it managed to bounce back by 59 points this month and reach -28 . This rebound in the consumer sentiment index can be primarily attributed to the index of future expectations which rocketed by 78 points while the index of current economic conditions expanded by 11 points . Similarly for South Africa , the stabilisation in prices appears to have led to the boost in confidence among households .
After striking a 13-year high in year-onyear inflation of 7.8 % in July , South Africa ’ s headline inflation rate slowed for the second month in a row reducing to 7.5 % in September from 7.6 % in August according to data from Statistics South Africa . On a month-to-month basis , consumer inflation decreased from 0.2 % in August to 0.1 % in September . The producer price index ( PPI ) which measures changes in the prices of goods bought and sold by manufacturers also followed a similar pattern . In July , producer inflation as measured by the PPI hit a 14-year high of 18 %. However , it has since slowed for a second straight month easing to 16.3 % in September from 16.6 % in August . The deceleration in producer inflation was mainly driven by lower fuel costs in the country . Consequently , households reported a lift in their incomes and purchasing power .
The household income and budget indices leaped by 88 and 77 points respectively while the purchasing power and discretionary spending indices grew by 56 and 12 points respectively . Additionally , the general economic condition indices for country and city moved back into positive territory as both indices shot up by 86 and 85 points respectively and finally , the job prospects index rose by 11 points . Evidently , the slackening in inflation has led to optimism on the future of South Africa ’ s economy .
Focusing on Ghana , its consumer confidence index slid from 12 to 2 which is the biggest loss this year in terms of magnitude but not the lowest level attained by the index in 2022 ( in March 2022 the index was at -8 ). Ghana ’ s economy has suffered significantly in 2022 and the country is in a full-blown recession . Inflation in the country is at its highest reading since July 2001 and it has accelerated for a 16th straight month . In fact , data from the Ghana Statistical Service shows that annual inflation has climbed from 13.9 % in January to 37.2 % in September .
To make matters worse , according to a Bloomberg report published in October , its local currency , the Ghanaian cedi , is the worst-performing currency this year as it has tumbled by more than 45 % against the dollar which has been unfavourable for the country given its position as a net-importer . As a result , the prices of imported goods have surged faster than those of domestic products .
Furthermore , international credit rating agencies have downgraded the country to junk status due to its unsustainable and growing debt burden which has denied the country access to global capital markets required to service its debts and support its local currency . Therefore , to achieve macroeconomic stability the country has applied for a USD 3 billion IMF bailout program starting in the first quarter of 2023 .
Nonetheless , Ghanaian households are clearly pessimistic about the country ’ s current and future economic conditions as the indices following these two elements
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