According to Johnny Madrigal, a researcher at the School of Statistics at the University of Costa Rica, in the last three months, consumer confidence remained unchanged since variations are not statistically significant.
Madrigal explained that there is an atmosphere of pessimism and uncertainty among consumers, although it is less pronounced than six months ago.
The slight increase recorded comes from all social strata, including those from the poorest households with an income of less than ¢ 500,000 colones.
Madrigal stressed that both the current valuation and the future expectation of household income is pessimistic.
According to the survey, 56% of consumers expect interest rates to grow in the next 12 months, and with their loans are expected to increase too.
On the other hand, 47.5% of respondents expect to be affected by inflation.
When asked specifically for the price of fuel, which has a strong influence on local inflation, 83% expect it to rise in the short term.
It is also expected that the exchange rate will increase by 70%, which would imply an increase in imports and some loans from people who receive their income in colones.
The Government’s economic policy is still perceived negatively, but improved in the last 3 months. The same thing happened with expectations of growth in unemployment and poverty rates.