Customers browse laptops at the Nguyen Kim supermarket. Viet Nam's consumer confidence falls slightly in September. — Photo pcworld.com.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub) ─ The ANZ-Roy Morgan Viet Nam Consumer Confidence Index has fallen slightly to 135.0 in September, down 0.5 point over the previous month.

ANZ Bank economists announced this in a report on Wednesday, adding that the index still remains clearly above the 2014 average of 132.0.

This month's fall in consumer confidence was primarily driven by an increasing number of respondents saying that now is a "bad time to buy" major household items, the economists said.

About 40 per cent (unchanged) of the Vietnamese people said that now is a "good time to buy" the items, but 21 per cent (up five percentage points) said now is a "bad time to buy".

"As we noted for the past few months, the consumer confidence was in the process of finding a new equilibrium level more aligned with steadily improving economic fundamentals rather than the dramatic improvement from geopolitical lows," said Glenn Maguire, chief economist of ANZ in South Asia, ASEAN and the Pacific.

Considering the domestic economy, 54 per cent (up 3 percentage points) of the people expect the country will have "good times" financially during the next 12 months, and 14 per cent (down one percentage point) expect "bad times".

Glenn said that with inflation continuing to soften, price-savvy consumers may be anticipating cheaper prices in the future.

"Such an outcome will ultimately be positive for consumption in the Vietnamese economy when this deferred spending is realised," he added.

The ANZ Bank and Roy Morgan Research launched the monthly private consumer index for Viet Nam in July, with surveys covering major cities and provinces across the nation. The index has witnessed steep rises in recent months. ─ VNS