Indebted Consumer to Spend Less, Says Survey

By Alistair Anderson

Johannesburg - CONSUMERS are expected to spend less on nonessentials in the next six months as they struggle to service their debt, a MasterCard survey said yesterday.

This lacklustre consumption may dampen SA's recovery as consumer spending is the economy's main growth engine.

Consumer spending rose at its fastest pace in more than two years during the first quarter of this year, and news of a surge in retail sales in May has bolstered hopes of a sustained pickup.

But the global biannual survey conducted during April and May said the number of South African consumers who had expected to decrease their spending on discretionary goods during the next six months had risen to 45% from the 38% reported in a previous survey.

The survey involved 10503 consumers from 24 markets across the Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa regions.

Rodger George, consumer business industry leader of advisory firm Deloitte SA, said even before the recession consumers faced obstacles to repaying their debt . "Debt levels rose to record heights in the latter part of 2007, and with rapidly rising inflation, and monetary policy responding by raising interest rates, consumers found their debt service levels rising, and their discretionary income falling."

The recession and job and income cuts last year worsened the problem, Mr George said.

The Reserve Bank's June quarterly bulletin said household debt was sitting at 78,4% of disposable income. Even though this was an improvement on 79,9% in the previous quarter, Deloitte senior economist Kay Walsh said this was far off the historical average of about 50%.

MasterCard's survey broke the public's spending priorities into 10 categories. As in the two previous surveys, consumers placed fashion and accessories as their first purchasing priority, followed by dining and entertainment. The purchase of consumer electronics ranked third for the South Africans surveyed, and was more popular than buying and upgrading a home.

Ms Walsh was unsurprised, as even the wealthy had had to cut down during the recession.

"The recent recession, the loss of income and, most importantly, the loss of consumer confidence has meant that those individuals in the top income brackets have tended to cut back on discretionary spending and focus on everyday items," she said.

The survey revealed that 58% of South Africans spend more than half their monthly income on household expenses, an 18% increase on six months ago.

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Original date published: 16 July 2010

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