And, after an extended period in which household savings were virtually nonexistent, South Africans now also appear to be realising the value of setting aside part of their income for future use.
These are just a few of the findings of the inaugural MasterCard Worldwide Index of Consumer Purchasing Priorities.
The Index, which will be compiled twice annually, provides valuable insights into consumers' expected saving and discretionary spending patterns over the next twelve months. This inaugural survey is based on face-to-face interviews conducted between 14 October and 11 November 2008, with 3,200 consumers from across the Middle East and Africa region.
The Index and its accompanying reports do not represent the financial performance of MasterCard.
"South African consumers are bracing themselves for tougher times ahead in 2009," said Jeni Webber, country manager, South Africa, MasterCard Worldwide. "More than eight out of every 10 South African respondents surveyed are looking at cutting back on discretionary spending in the next 12 months."
When asked whether they thought inflation in their country would be higher, about the same, or lower over the next 12 months, 74% of the South Africans said that they expected it to be higher.
The participants were then asked whether, given their expectations about inflation, they would cut back on their discretionary spending. To this, 81% of the South Africans said yes.
This figure is considerably higher than that reported by the region as a whole or by any of the six other markets included the survey. Although more than two-thirds of the region's consumers likewise expected inflation to be higher, only 47% of them said that they were likely to cut back on their discretionary spending.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) reported the second-highest percentage, with 57% of its consumers saying they would curtail their spending. Surprisingly, Kuwait and Lebanon, the two countries with the highest percentages of consumers expecting inflation to be higher, also reported the some of the lowest percentages of consumers expecting to spend less.
As is the case for the overall region, South Africa's male consumers are slightly more likely than their female counterparts to cut back on their discretionary spending.
Interestingly, it is also South Africa's older and younger consumers who are most likely to tighten their purse strings. Of the participants aged fifty-six or older, 84% said they would cutback on their spending, while 83% of the participants aged thirty or younger said they would do so.
Setting some money aside, likewise, appears to be of new-found importance to South Africans. Although South Africans have for years saved virtually nothing of their personal incomes, 77% of the South Africans interviewed in this survey said saving was going to be very important to them.
This, too, was much higher than the figures reported by the overall region and by the six other markets. Only the UAE was in the same ballpark, with 71% of its consumers regarding saving as very important.
As to why they feel it's important, most South Africans (55%) indicated that one of their main reasons for saving was to be able to provide for their children's education. 47% cited investments as a reason for saving, and 42% cited retirement.
In terms of how much they plan to save over the next twelve months, South Africans are pretty much in step with the rest of the region. On average, they expected to save 11 - 20% of their total income. The same was true of the Kuwaitis, the Lebanese, and the Qataris. Only in Saudi Arabia and the UAE did consumers expect to save more, on average.
The spending that South Africans do intend to do over the next twelve months is likely to be on fashion and accessories, their children's education, and buying or renovating a home or property.
This contrasted slightly with the region as a whole, which saw a higher percentage of consumers indicating that they would spend money on their children's education.
However, the percentage of South Africans that said they would be spending money on dining and entertainment, as well as big ticket consumer electronics, was quite a bit less than the percentage of consumers throughout the region planning to do so.
