Economy 21 December 2004, 2:32pm

Hungary's consumer confidence index edges up in Q4 - Ecostat

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Hungary's consumer confidence index stood at 41.3% in the fourth quarter of 2004, a 0.4 percentage point rise from the third quarter of the year and a 4.1% increase from the same period of 2003, economic research institute Ecostat said on Tuesday.

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Households expect better financial situation.

The study showed that households expected an improvement of their financial situation next year but they turned more pessimistic about employment opportunities.

Fifty-eight percent of households considered their financial situation as average, one fifth as bad and a further 4% as very bad. Eighteen percent of households saw their financial situation good and 1% as very good, Ecostat said, adding that a distribution of responses barely changed in the past one year.

Fourty-three percent of consumers did not feel any change in their financial situation compared to a situation a year ago. About four fifths of families reported a deterioration of their financial situation, Ecostat said.

Responders were more positive about their future, but 30% still feared a deterioration of their households' financial situation in the next one year. Twenty-one percent expected an improvement, 30% saw stability and 17% were uncertain.