A customer buys household goods at Bien Hoa market in southern Dong Nai Province. Viet Nam's consumer confidence continues to improve in August. — Photo baodongnai.com.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub) ─ The ANZ-Roy Morgan Viet Nam Consumer Confidence Index increased by 1.4 points to reach 135.5 this month.

ANZ Bank economists announced this in a report dated August 27, adding that the rise of the index was primarily driven by increasing consumer confidence about economic conditions in Viet Nam over the next year.

The index is now clearly above 2014's to-date average of 131.6 and is at the highest level recorded since March.

In terms of personal finance, 32 per cent (down 2 per cent) of the Vietnamese people said their families are "better off" financially now than a year ago, compared to 21 per cent (up 2 per cent) who said their families are "worse off".

However, 56 per cent (up 1 per cent) expect their families will be "better off" financially this time next year, compared to 5 per cent (down 1 per cent) who expect to be "worse off".

Regarding the domestic economy, 51 per cent (up 4 per cent) of the Vietnamese people expect the nation will have "good times" financially during the next twelve months, and 15 per cent (unchanged) expect "bad times".

Sixty per cent (down 1 per cent) expect the country will have "good times" economically over the next five years, compared to 5 per cent who expect "bad times".

As much as 40 per cent (up 3 per cent) said now is a "good time to buy" major household items, compared to 16 per cent (down 1 per cent) who said this is a "bad time to buy".

"Consumer confidence in Viet Nam continues to align with a steadily improving macroeconomic backdrop," said Glenn Maguire, chief economist of ANZ in Asia-Pacific.

"We continue to believe that Vietnamese consumer confidence is more likely to move sideways around these levels rather than continue to post large gains…Further strong gains in confidence will need to be propelled either via wealth effects from higher equity and gold prices, or a faster improvement in the economic backdrop," 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. ─ VNS