China News Service, Beijing, April 8 (Reporter Zheng Qiao) The consumer confidence index for cross-strait and Hong Kong and Macau in the first quarter of 2020 was released in Beijing on the 8th. The total consumer confidence index for the mainland (Mainland) was 101.8, ranking first; Hong Kong ranked first. At the end, it was 55.3; Macau and Taiwan were 78.7 and 91.2 respectively.

Affected by the new Coronary Pneumonia epidemic, the consumer confidence index of the two sides of the strait, Hong Kong and Macao decreased compared with the fourth quarter of 2019. Consumer confidence indexes in Mainland China (Mainland), Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan fell by 1.3, 13.4, 5.2 and 5.3 respectively.

Consumer confidence index is the subjective evaluation and psychological expectation of consumers after comprehensive judgment on all aspects of the economic situation. The value ranges from 0 to 200. A value below 100 indicates that the respondent is "lack of confidence" and a value above 100 indicates "confident". The index includes six sub-indices of economic development, employment, prices, living, home purchase and investment.

Hong Kong, the largest decline, all sub-indexes fell significantly from the previous quarter. Among them, investment, prices, living and employment confidence fell by more than 20%. The consumer confidence index for home purchase is only 48.8, showing that the public has the least confidence in home purchase.

The Mainland China (Mainland) Consumer Confidence Index is in the optimistic range and remains generally stable. From the perspective of various sub-indexes, the confidence index of house purchase and price shows an upward trend. The confidence index of economic development, living and employment has declined to varying degrees year-on-year and month-on-month, and the decline in investment confidence has been more significant.

In Macau, the six sub-indices, except for price and confidence in house purchases, all fell. Among them, economic development and employment confidence both fell below 100, down more than 20% from the previous quarter, indicating that consumers are generally worried about the overall economy and employment conditions affected by the epidemic.

Taiwan ’s survey shows that only the index of house purchases is in the optimistic range, and the rest are pessimistic. The people of Taiwan are most worried about the price level.

The survey and compilation of the Consumer Confidence Index was completed in cooperation with Capital University of Economics and Business, Central University of Finance and Economics, City University of Hong Kong, Macau University of Science and Technology and Taipei Medical University. (Finish)