Consumer confidence continues to slide in Q1

Inflationary pressure and economic uncertainty further undermined consumer confidence in the first quarter of the year, a widely watched index showed yesterday.

The National Bureau of Statistics said the consumer confidence index dropped 1.7 percentage points to 94.8 from the fourth quarter of last year, a signal consumers' willingness to open their wallets is waning. In February, confidence slid to an 18-month low of 94.3 when inflation gained 8.7 percent, a 12-year record high.

An index measuring shoppers' confidence in the economy also declined slightly to 90.8 from 92.5 in the fourth quarter of last year, when another index measuring consumers' outlook for the next three months declined to 97.5 from 99.1.