The household confidence index (HCI) stood at 44.3 points at Q4 of 2023, compared with 46.6 points in the same quarter of the previous year, reaching its lowest level since the survey began in 2008, according to Morocco’s Statistics and Forecasts Office (HCP) which released this data in its latest report, on Tuesday.
In Q4-2023, 87% of households reported a deterioration in their standard of living over the past 12 months, while 9.2% indicated the status quo, and 3.8% an improvement.
The balance of opinion on past trends in living standards remained negative, at -83.2 points, compared with -81.5 points in the previous quarter and -78 points in the same quarter last year.
More than half of households (57.9%) expect their standard of living to worsen over the next 12 months, 33.2% to remain at the same level, and 8.9% to improve.
According to the HCP, when surveyed in Q4-2023, 86.3% of households expected unemployment to rise over the next 12 months, while only 6% expected it to lessen.
The survey also reveals that in Q4-2023, 79.8% versus 9.4% of households consider the present not to be the right time to make purchases of durable goods.
Just over 56% of households feel that their income adequately covers their expenses, 42.1% say they are in debt or are drawing on their savings, and 1.8% say they are saving at least a portion of their income.
As for the evolution of their financial situation over the last 12 months, 59.8% versus 3.7% of households consider that it has worsened.
With regard to predicting their financial situation over the next 12 months, only 18.3% of households expect their financial situation to improve, while 28.9% expect it to deteriorate.