Morocco’s High Commission for Planning (HCP) carried out the Permanent Household Status Survey that revealed the household confidence index for Q2 2022 continued its downward trend, hitting an all-time low.
The household confidence index (ICM), which includes components related to the households’ perception of the standards of living status, unemployment, the opportunity to make purchases of durable goods and their financial situation, stood at 50.1 points instead of 53.7 points a quarter earlier and 63 points in the same quarter of 2021.
According to the HCP, 79.2% of households declared a deterioration in their standard of living over the past 12 months, 14.6% maintained the same level and 6.2% said it improved.
The balance of this index remained negative at -73 points, against -66.8 points in the previous quarter and -50.8 points in the same quarter of 2021.
In regards to the status of the standard of living over the next 12 months, 46.8% of households expect a deterioration, 40.7% expect to maintain the same level and 12.5% expect it to improve.
The balance of this index stood at -34.3 points, recording a deterioration both compared to the previous quarter and the same quarter of 2021 when it was -21.4 points and 0.2 points, respectively.
The survey also reports that in Q2 2022, 86% versus 4.9% of households expected the unemployment rate to increase over the next 12 months.
The index’s balance thus remained negative at -81.1 points, against -82.8 points a quarter earlier and -69.8 points a year earlier.
In terms of purchasing durable goods, the survey indicated that 78.9% against 9.8% of households consider that the time is not right to make purchases.
Its balance remained negative at -69.1, registering a deterioration both compared to the previous quarter and compared to the same quarter of the previous year when it stood at -66.7 points and -65.6 points, respectively.
The report further indicated that 52% of households believe that their income covers their expenses, and 45.4% said they are in debt or have spent from their savings and 2.6% said they save part of their income.
The balance of opinion on the households’ current financial situation remained negative at -42.8 points against -43.4 points in Q1 2022 and -38.0 points in Q2 2022.
As for the status of their financial situation over the past 12 months, 54.3% against 5.6% of households said it has deteriorated.
This perception thus remains negative, with a balance of opinion of -48.7 points against -50.9 points in the previous quarter and -50 points in the same quarter of the previous year.
Regarding the status of their financial situation over the next 12 months, 19.1% of households expect their financial situation to improve, 61.7% expect it to maintain the same level and 19.2% expect it to worsen.
The balance of opinion for this indicator thus stood at -0.1 point against 8.3 points a quarter earlier and 14.8 points a year earlier.
