Pessimism may best describe consumer sentiment across the Caribbean, with countries less dependent on tourism and financial services generally more optimistic than their neighbors – except in the case of The Bahamas.
The CARICOM Consumer Sentiment Index (CCSI) came in at 68 for the first quarter of 2011, with any result below 100 on that index suggesting that most consumers are pessimistic about their personal financial situation and general business and economic conditions. The least pessimistic consumers are in Guyana, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada, while the most pessimistic are in St. Lucia, St. Kitts & Nevis, Jamaica and Antigua, according to the index.
“We attribute these findings to the fact that Guyana and St. Vincent & The Grenadines are among the least tourism and international financial services dependent economies in CARICOM. Hence, consumers in those countries may have suffered less from the impact of the global economic recession and the slow recovery,” read the CCSI report, prepared by the University of the West Indies’ Department of Management Studies.
The Bahamas government, fearful that the results would be very detrimental, refused to particpate in the survey.
