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South Africans' views researched for Budget Day

22 Feb 2012

As South Africans ponder the Budget, due out today 22 February 2012, Ipsos has released two research reports on how South Africa shows the most improvement as part of a global outlook on the national economies but that its people's perceptions on cost of living and the government's control are not high.

Global outlook promising

Global @dvisor Wave 29 (G@29), an Ipsos survey conducted between January 3 and January 16, 2012, is a survey conducted monthly in 25 countries around the world via the Ipsos Online Panel system. The report, titled "Ipsos Global @dvisory: The Economic Pulse of the World" is based on 18 768 recent interviews and examines citizens' assessment of current state of their country's economy for a total global perspective.

National economic assessments are up on the global aggregate level and in every region. This is the first time since April 2010 that all geographic regions included in the survey have displayed an improvement in economic outlook.

National economic assessments

South Africans' views researched for Budget Day

South Africans have shown the greatest improvement, with 42% of respondents saying that the outlook of our economy is "good." This is up from 32% at the last reading. Mexico on the other hand, showed the greatest decline in from 30% rating their economy as "good" to 24%.

National economic ratings at a glance

The most positive nation is currently Saudi Arabia with 86% of respondents rating their economic situation as "good", followed by Sweden (72%), Australia (70%), Germany (70%), Canada (65%) and India (65%). Those who rated their economy the worst included Hungary - with a mere 2% rating their economy as "good", then Spain (4%), Italy (5%), France (6%), Japan (8%) and Great Britain (13%).

Respondents were asked to look ahead 6 months and state whether they expected the economy in their local area to be stronger or weaker than what it currently is. Saudi Arabia is again the most positive with 69% stating that their economy will be stronger in the future. South Africans display less confidence with only 26% saying that our economy will be stronger. Spain displays the least optimism about the future of their economy with only 6% believing the economy will improve.

Six-month outlook

Looking at the BRICS region, Brazil, China and India all feature on the higher end of the rating - 50%, 52% and 47% respectively believing that the economy will improve. South Africa and Russia are on the opposite end of the spectrum and display the lowest confidence in the BRICS cluster. Only 21% Russian respondents believe that the economy will improve.

Europe's results confirm that Germany will emerge as an "engine" for growth and German respondents, along with those from Sweden, displayed high levels of confidence in their economy (45% and 89% respectively). "The economically challenged Greece is not included in the study and Spain (6%), Hungary (8%) and Italy (10%) display Europe's lowest confidence levels in their national economies."

Percentage of respondents who say that their local economy will be stronger in the next 6 months

The full report is free of charge and may be downloaded at www.ipsosglobaladvisor.com.

Government control of COL unimpressive

The Ipsos "Pulse of the People" poll of 3 500 adult South Africans conducted from 26 October to 7 December 2011 asked randomly chosen respondents whether they thought the government was performing very well, fairly well, not really well or not at all well in various policy areas - including "Controlling the cost of living".

Less than four in every ten (38%) adult South Africans believe that the government is doing "very well" or "fairly well" in its efforts to control the cost of living in the country.

To explore the concerns of South Africans about the cost of living in the country, Ipsos probed ten items that households typically would spend money on. The question was, "How easy or difficult is it for you and your family to afford the following? Is it very easy, easy, difficult or very difficult to afford...." The following items were included: food, healthcare, housing, education, savings for retirement, electricity, water, petrol, wood/coal/gas and transport. If the household did not make use of one of these items, it was recorded as "not applicable."

According to the chart below, more than half of South Africans find these basic items either difficult or very difficult to afford. The high cost of petrol is posing a problem - it is also having a spin-off effect on the cost of transport.

It is clear from this picture that very few South Africans are saving for their retirement. The money available in most households is not enough to afford necessities and saving is probably seen as a luxury that most people can ill afford.

It is difficult or very difficult for most South Africans to afford necessities

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When looking at the results for working South Africans only, the pattern looks very similar, although higher proportions have indicated that they can afford most items, especially food, healthcare, housing and education, the price of petrol is still an issue, while just less than a quarter (23%) are saying that they find it easy or very easy to make provision for retirement.

Working South Africans are slightly better off

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For young people from 18-24 years old, the cost of living is a concern - with only about four in every ten indicating that they find it easy or very easy to afford food, healthcare, education, electricity and water. A third can afford housing and transport and those who do use wood/coal or gas for cooking or heating find it expensive. The cost of petrol is still a huge issue, while savings for retirement are very low on the list of necessities.

Young people are struggling to afford necessities

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In an international survey, also released today, South Africans participating have indicated that they are not very optimistic about the economic growth in the country for the next six months - only a quarter (26%) of the rather affluent group who participated in an online survey indicated that they expect the regional economy to be stronger a few months from now. However, when looking at their evaluation of the current situation, opinions in South Africa have shown the greatest improvement.