Alonso Elizondo, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce of Costa Rica, said the Consumer Confidence Index (ICC) shows the lowest level of the year, which is almost as low as in November 2018.
Through a press release they indicated that the results of the study, conducted by the School of Statistics of the University of Costa Rica (UCR), show important progressive data such as that young people are more optimistic than older people.
One of the relevant conclusions is that the results of the study confirm the discourse that the Chamber of Commerce has been handling for months, where we face a problem of consumer confidence, which is being reflected in families and has an impact on the sector of durable goods such as the purchase of a house or a vehicle, items that require a degree of financing or long-term debts.”
The Chamber established that the lack of trust is due to factors such as disposable income: we have just left a tax reform that in one way or another implies a higher tax payment; the over-indebtedness that families have and, on the business side, the economy does not take off: the level of employment continues to be relatively low.
In the sector we believe that this will be a temporary process and we hope it will reverse over time. The measures taken by the government have been positive. However, we have found little reaction from economic agents. The reaction of people has been slow, given the decline in interest rates,”
they said.